Devil May Cry 0: Past Ties
by Kowaiki
Summary: Alternate universe. What if the twins got along and was never seperated? The past is catching up to the present. Vergil and Dante are facing new enemies as well seeing old faces. Will this be the time that divides them? [Hiatus]
1. Chapter 1

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Disclaimer: Devil May Cry belongs to Capcom. All original characters in the game belong to it.

Note: This fan fiction is a sequel to the last one I wrote. Even though this is a sequel, it is not necessary to read the first one before reading this one. There isn't much connection between the two in terms of the plot. However, if anyone would like to understand the characters' relationships more please feel free to.

Chapter 1: Suspicion

A woman with blonde hair sat inside a parked truck outside a task-taking shop named Devil May Cry. She was wearing relatively little; merely a skin-tight leather vest that exposed her back and shoulders, along with long black pants despite it was already mid-autumn. It didn't matter her, of course, since she was a demon and felt little change in the air temperature.

Devil May Cry belonged to two young devil hunters. When the woman heard it the first time, she almost laughed out aloud. _Devil May Cry? What a joke_, she thought.

She had been there for about three hours. During that time, she noticed that that the shop was located in a relatively poor suburb. The street was dirty, gardens were messy and children roamed around the streets unsupervised. Eventually, the door opened and someone came out. The young man was in casual attire, wearing a waist length jacket and slightly loose jeans. He had silver white hair that slicked back not so neatly. When he walked past the unfamiliar truck, he glanced over at it with his cold blue eyes for a moment but didn't stop or slow down. The window's tinting prevented him from making out the features of the person inside.

The woman adjusted her sunglasses. It looked like she was in luck. This devil hunter was the one she wanted to meet. She waited until he made the turn at the end of the street before igniting the truck engine with a turn of key.

* * *

Dante sat up from his favourite spot on the couch when he heard three clear knocks on his front door. He opened it and saw his two expected guests. They were two identical twin girls in their late teens. Both of them had long black hair and clear green eyes. Rei, the elder twin had her hair tied up to a ponytail. The bits of hair that was not long enough to be tied up hang in front of her ears. She was wearing a light yellow blouse and jeans. Mia, the younger twin had her hair down naturally. Like her twin, she wore blouse and jeans but her blouse was black instead. "Right on time girls," Dante greeted them. He noticed Rei was holding a white cardboard box in her hands. 

"Homemade chocolate mud cake," Rei answered when he looked at the box then at her. Almost instinctively, she stepped back before Dante could take it from her. "But we're going to eat it later together," she smiled.

Dante threw up his hands. "Fair enough," he said and walked back into the house. The place was as messy as Rei remembered it when she first came. Some spots such as the coffee table and desk looked like Vergil made an effort to clean it up before he left but Dante had already placed stuff on those places again. "The fridge is over there," Dante pointed the way. "It doesn't like strangers very much so just pull the handle like you've got nothing to lose."

"Um, ok," Rei said unsurely. Mia followed her twin to the kitchen. It was her first time to the shop so she was looking all around her like a child going to the park for the first time.

"I feel sorry for Vergil," Mia said, shaking her head at the same time. This was the messiest house she'd ever been to. There wasn't even a place to sit.

Knowing she was talking about his mess, Dante replied. "You should feel sorry for me. Do you know how many times I get lectured a day? Aroundthree quartersof what he says to me each day is about the condition of this house. Why he never gets sick of repeating is still a mystery to me."

Back to the couch where he sat, Dante returned his attention on the TV. There was nothing interesting on but he doesn't really have much else to do. He found the remote and started flipping through the available channels. Soon he heard a loud bang from the kitchen. It was the sound of the fridge door being opened. It was an old one that can't be opened without using considerable force on it. Dante had gotten used to it, but it must've surprised the girls. Rei began shoveling and reorganising things in the fridge to make room for her cake.

"Dante, don't you have any drinks in your fridge?" One of the girls asked. Dante knew it was Mia without even turning around to see.

"I drank them all yesterday. But no worries, there's always the tap," he winked at her.

"By the way," Rei said while trying to close the fridge door that kept on bouncing back open. "Where's Vergil?"

"He went out to get the videos," Dante replied. "Just give it a boot," he told Mia.

Right after he said that, Mia kicked it shut. It startled Rei a little. Ignoring the frowns coming from her elder twin sister, Mia said "I'm going out to buy some drinks." She grabbed her purse and headed out.

"Just don't come back with ten bags of grocery!" Rei called to her from behind before the door shut. Not even Rei could understand why her twin could buy a lot of things wherever she goes.

* * *

Mia remembered passing a convenient store on her way to Devil May Cry. She looked at the sky above her. Rows of clouds were dyed in various shades of orange and pink by the setting sun. It was very beautiful, except that the sun looked redder than usual. So red that it looked ominous, like it could burst any moment. Shaking the thoughts of her head, Mia concentrated on the path ahead of her. From a distance, she could see someone familiar was standing outside the store. His face was exactly the same as Dante. There was no mistake, it was Vergil. He was not alone. A woman with long blonde hair was talking to him. 

The next second, Mia found herself crouching behind the nearest street light pole and looking at the two like a paparazzi. _What am I doing?_ She asked herself. The side face of the woman looked a somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember when or where she had seen her before. The woman did most of the talking. Vergil occasionally spoke back. However Mia wasn't close enough to hear a word of it. When their conversation seemed to have ended, Vergil followed the woman to a truck. It was not a big truck – smaller than a semi-trailer but bigger than a van. Moving quickly, Mia crept behind the truck. She waited until the two have closed the doors before opening the truck container.

* * *

Back in the shop, Dante and Rei were watching TV together. Dante noticed Rei was glancing back and forth at the clock and the TV screen, probably more often at the former. He couldn't blame her. Mia had been out for almost two hours and still hadn't come back. He was too starting to wonder what his elder twin had been up to. Rei stood up suddenly. 

"Dante, I'm going to…"

"Hell, it's already 7? I've been sitting for too long. I'm going out for a stretch," Dante interrupted her. "If I happen to see the two of them I'll kick their sorry asses back here."

"Thanks, Dante," Rei smiled gratefully. Grabbing his coat with one hand, Dante waved at her as a reply without looking back.

The devil hunter came back half an hour later. Rei was disappointed when he didn't return with either of the two. She still looked at him hopefully and waited for him to speak. Perhaps the people at the convenient store and video rental shop had seen them.

Dante took off his coat and throw it on his desk. "The bloke down the street got a new bike," He said finally.

"No jokes please, Dante," Rei said tiredly.

Dante closed his eyes and shook his head. Rei slumped onto a chair. "Where can they be?" she asked no one in particular.

Suddenly the phone rang. Rei was closer so she got it.

"Hello?" She asked, hoping it was her twin sister. To her surprise, it was.

"Hi Rei!" Mia's energetic voice came from the other end.

"Mia! Where have you been?" Rei thought she heard herself yell. She felt a little more relieved to hear her twin sounding like she usual do.

"I'm sorry," Mia apologised. "I saw Vergil got inside a truck with a woman. I thought he was cheating on you so I decided to follow him by hiding in the truck container."

"Mia, you know I don't even know if he…" Rei then remembered Dante was next to her. _I don't even know if he likes me,_ she swallowed the other half of the sentence into her stomach.

"I was just joking. You're being too serious again Rei," Mia laughed. "But I do think he likes you," she added.

Rei sighed. "Anyway, where are you?"

"In fact, I don't know," Mia answered. "We just got off the highway. Right now I'm calling you while they are refuelling the truck. I can see a very big hot dog on the other side of the road. It's probably a hot dog place. Also, the traffic on the highway was really bad because of the road work and congestion." While talking in the phone booth, Mia had an eye on Vergil and the blonde hair woman. They just finished buying some food and paid for the fuel at the register. "Hey Rei I got to go. Bye!" She hangs up quickly.

"Hang on Mia, you're still going to follow…" the line went dead before Rei finished. Without a choice, she put the receiver back on the holder.

"Mia is following Vergil somewhere. She doesn't even know where they are right now." She told Dante, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Hey that's not a bad thing. At least it sounds more interesting than watching movies here for the night," Dante said, grinning.

"Highways with roadwork at the moment are …" Rei muttered to herself while trying to recall the traffic news on radio earlier in the evening that she didn't pay much attention to. "Number 3, 15 and…" She couldn't recall the last one.

"8," Dante told her. He dug through a pile of junk mail and held up a hot dog flyer. "Come and try out hot dogs with a flavour that will sure amaze…whatever. 5 minutes drive after taking exit 54 on highway number 8."

"Looks like that's it," Rei put her hand under her chin. "If they are refuelling, it means they still have a fair bit of way to go."

"Wait for another one," Dante said and headed to his room. Rei had to agree. They'll wait for at least another phone call before following.

After hanging up the line, Mia ran back to the truck. The petrol boy who was responsible for the truck pretended he hadn't seen her. He was surprised when Mia jumped out from the back after the driver and her companion went into the shop. He was easily silenced when Mia hushed him and shoved ten dollar into his hand. "Take your time, ok?" she said to him. The boy put the ten dollar note in his pocket and nodded.

* * *

"_Let's see who can run home faster!" Dante said to Vergil. They just finished their classes at school._

"_You really want to be beaten for the 100th time so much huh?" Vergil said to his younger twin with a grin._

"_I'm going to win this time," Dante snorted. The twin boys started running at the same time without anyone saying 'ready set go' for them._

_Before they reach the house they knew something was wrong. Their half-devil body made their senses much stronger than usual humans. They could smell the stinging scent of blood a block away. Both of them noticed at the same time but Vergil made it home a little quicker. _

"_Mum!" He yelled out for Eva as soon as he opened the door. There was blood on the floor of the lounge but no signs of her. He headed for the kitchen. Dante arrived at that time. He looked in the laundry. She wasn't there either. He found Vergil standing at the door of the bedroom, with a look he had never seen before. _

"_No Dante, don't come in here!" Vergil cried out when he realised Dante was heading over to where he was. It was too late. Dante, too, saw it. He screamed._

"Dante, wake up!" Dante could faintly hear the urgency in the gentle voice calling his name. He opened his eyes and found himself on his own bed. It was still night time. He must've fallen asleep without knowing even though he just intended to lie down for a while. Rei was standing at his side.

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly. "You were yelling in your dream."

Wiping some sweat off his own forehead, Dante sat upright. There was a moment of silence. "Did I say anything?" He asked.

"I couldn't hear you very well. But you mentioned your mother, I think," Rei answered. There was a longer silence. Dante glanced at his alarm clock. It was ten sixteen at night. Rei looked tired. It didn't seem like she took a nap like he did.

At that moment, the phone rang. Rei ran out to get it.

"Hello?"

"It's me Rei," it was Mia. "They're stuck at a landslide right now. I'm calling from a phone booth again. We really need to get mobile phones you know," she joked.

"Where are you?" The elder twin asked. Dante came out of his room, took a chair and sat down beside her.

"I can see a sign that says 'Cockatoo National Park 500 meters on the left'. It's really dark here; I haven't seen any street lights in ages. I could only read the sign when a car came by and shone its headlight on it," Mia told her. "I didn't even know if there is a phone near where the car is right now but thank god there is."

Dante thought about his dream. Only that it wasn't really a dream. He was seeing the event that happened eight years ago. He dreamed about it the first couple of years since his mother died but the last time he had this dream was years ago. He wondered if Vergil dreamed about it sometimes too. They never talked about it but he thought they both knew. They were twins, after all. Then it occurred to him. Mia mentioned Vergil going off with a blonde, long-haired woman. _Can it possibly be?_ he thought. _But she's dead. There's no way that…_

"Do you know where they're going?" Rei asked. It stunned her when the phone was suddenly snatched from her hand.

"What does the blonde woman look like?" Dante asked. But all he heard was the steady dial tone.

"Damn! There goes all my coins," Mia grumbled to herself when the line went dead. Cold night air greeted as soon as she walk out of the booth. She didn't want to go back into the truck container. Not only was it uncomfortable inside, it was dark and smelt bad. _I'm so stupid,_ she thought to herself. _I'm going to kill someone if this turns out to be Vergil visiting an old friend of his._ With much reluctance, she slowly made her way back to the truck.

* * *

Author's notes: 

I'm back and writing a sequel to DMC0! I can hardly believe it. Thanks to my friends who read this as well as the readers of the previous fic.Actully, now is probably the worst time for me to start a story. I'm buried under a mountain of assignments at the moment. Is there a shop that sells time? I really need to buy some...

Big thanks to my friend Veronica for beta-reading this for me.


	2. Chapter 2

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Chapter 2

Enzo felt like the happiest man on the planet. He just cleared his debts, switched to a better job and bought a new bike. To celebrate, he was going to throw the biggest party in town. It was expensive but well worth it. In order to get the most gorgeous women in town to come, he bought new sound system, a huge TV and also renovated the house. He was overjoyed when more people than he expected showed up. The party was just getting started and already some people were singing karaoke, some were dancing and some were drinking. He was surrounded by a crowd of ladies himself.

"Enzo," a woman called Claire said to him while running her fingers down his chest. "What is it baby?" he asked, drawing her closer to him. Claire giggled but pushed him away. "There's someone at the front porch waiting for you," she said.

_Rats_, thought Enzo. He mustn't have heard it because of the loud music, not to mention he was drunk too. Scratching his beer belly, wobbly he stood up on his feet. Who dared enough to interrupt while he was having so much fun? Not even noticing he was swaying as he walked, he found his way to the front porch.

"Who the hell is it?" Enzo asked with irritation in his voice before his eyes made out who stood outside. His hands opened the door without thinking.

"I see that you're having a great time, Enzo," Dante said, leaning over to Enzo who was a head shorter than him.

Immediately, Enzo's drunkenness seemed to have cleared without a trace. "D, Dante!" he rubbed his eyes to make sure he was talking to the right twin. It was Dante all right. "Would you like to join in?" Enzo asked, hoping Dante would say no.

"I'd love to but something urgent just came up. I need to borrow your bike," Dante said, pointing at the shiny blue motor bike.

As though he was told a plague broke out in town, Enzo's knees buckled. "Oh Dante, please don't do this to me. I just bought it yesterday," he pleaded. Nothing he lent to Dante or his twin brother Vergil in the past ever came back in its original shape. These either came back half broken or they don't even get returned back most of the time at all. Those demon-like twin brothers had been his nightmare for years. Every so often they would rock up to his place and make him lend them things.

"I'm so sorry, please don't mind him," said a girl whom Enzo didn't notice the presence of until now. Seeing Dante scared him too much that his attention was all focused on him. "Like I said, let's find another way. We can call a taxi or something," she said to Dante, pulling his jacket sleeve lightly.

"I'm sure Enzo would kindly let us use it for a night, right?" Dante said to his neighbour. However, Enzo didn't appear to be listening. He was staring at Rei as though his eyes were attached to her with permanent glue.

In front of Enzo stood the most stunning girl he had ever seen in his life. It was not just because of her unusual combination of jet black hair and peridot green eyes; she also had a unique temperament. None of the girls at his party could compare. Rather than beautiful and sexy, she was more pretty and elegant. Regardless, she stood out like a diamond in a pile of stones.

"Hello, Enzo?" Dante waved a hand in front of Enzo's face.

"My name is Enzo, nice to meet you," Enzo took a step closer to Rei. He wiped his hand on his shirt quickly and offered it to her.

"Where are my manners? My name is Rei," Rei said and shook his hand.

Her voice sounded like a melody to him. Enzo felt like he could fly the instant he heard it. When her hand touched his, he felt like he was struck by lightning. He wished he could hold her soft and smooth hand just like that forever. It wasn't fair. He didn't understand why Rei would be acquainted with someone like Dante. Nor did he understand why she would go to Dante's trashy house and not his kick-ass party.

_Great_, thought Dante. They needed to catch up with Vergil and the mysterious woman quick and that idiot Enzo wouldn't let go of Rei's hand. From his back, he pulled out Ivory, one of his beloved guns and stuck it on Enzo's nose. "I thought I said we're in a hurry right now," he said impatiently. Enzo backed away a couple of steps. Then his attention focused back on the green-eye girl again, completely ignoring Dante.

"I'm sorry but," Rei began, silently thanked Dante for interrupting. "We really have to go." She was just beginning to feel uneasy at the incredibly long handshake.

"Oh that's right. It's me who should say sorry." Enzo dug into his pocket. It took him a moment to dig through his front and back pockets of his trousers. "Here you go," he gave his bike keys to her.

Dante snatched it right away. "Thanks," he said without any signs of gratitude in his voice and went to start the bike. Enzo's arousing anger towards Dante soon vaporised when he looked back to Rei. "Thank you so much!" she said to him and then got on the bike behind Dante, who helped himself with Enzo's brand-new blue helmet.

"We'll return it back to you as soon as possible," Rei said. Dante stepped onto the accelerator. The two of them was down the end of the street and out of sight in seconds.

She smiled at him. Enzo thought he could die happily like this.

* * *

After somewhat felt forever to Mia, the truck finally came to a stop. It was the most unpleasant car trip ever. The container couldn't be closed from inside so she had to hold on to it the entire time. On top of that, the terrible smell of raw seafood was overwhelming from inside. Nothing was in the container but it didn't take a genius to figure out what it used to contain. She heard the car doors being opened followed by the sound of feet dropping on the ground. She wasn't too worried about the chances of the container being opened, since it was empty inside. To be safe, Mia waited some more after she couldn't hear footsteps anymore. Little by little, she pushed on the metal flaps. Her eyes scanned the outside environment as much as she could from the widening crack. It opened with a long, low-pitch squeak. She winced at the noise. It didn't sound so obvious before when she opened it at the petrol station. However right then it sounded like a small scream in the dark, windless night. 

Not letting her effort be wasted, Mia looked around to make sure nobody was around. From the back, it looked like she was alone. It was supposedly a new moon night. Yet, it could not be seen due to the accumulated storm clouds. The faint sound of thunder coming from far away could be heard. She walked around to the front of the truck and was stunned by what she saw.

A splendid medieval style castle stood on a hill. The truck was right at the beginning of a pathway that appeared to lead to the gatehouse. The cream coloured castle looked tall enough by having at least four storeys. Being located on a hill made it looked even taller. Faint rays of light came out from the large windows. Mia couldn't help but to pinch her own cheek to make sure she wasn't dreaming any of this. High protective brick wall surrounded the castle. The path seemed like the only way in.

On one hand, she was glad she couldn't see Vergil and the mysterious woman but on the other hand, that meant she had to go look for them. With no choice, Mia made her way towards the castle. When she reached the gatehouse, she discovered it was opened and unattended. She felt a bit silly to think about it. Of course it would be unattended, just what era did she think she was in? A little further was the front door of the castle. Mia looked around for another way in. It was just too bold to walk in like that. Unfortunately, the windows on the ground floor and first floor were the type that could not be opened. There was the option to climb up. The only problem was if she happened to slip it didn't look like she could avoid at least a broken bone or two. She checked on the rusty door handle. It was unlocked. _Well then, here we go_, she thought. _No death sentence for trespassing I hope.

* * *

_

Trish was what that woman called herself. He didn't believe who he saw when she approached him from behind, calling his name. Never would he forget that voice, not even the day he dies. At first he thought it was just a coincidence, that familiar voice, that long blonde hair. The moment she removed her sunglasses, he knew there was no mistake. He was staring at a pair of blue eyes same coloured as his. He was looking at a woman who looked exactly the same as his deceased mother. She was around the same age as his mother when she died.

"There's someone who wants to see you," was what she said to him. It didn't take him long to decided whether or not to follow her. There was something he needed to find out. Following Trish was likely to give him clues.

While Trish was driving, she tried to start a conversation with the young man. He was about as responsive as a rock. After a trip that took hours on her truck, they arrived at an old castle. Trish parked the truck as near it as possible. Then, she led him into the castle. The moment he stepped into it, he could feel a strong presence of evil lurking in every corner. "Don't worry," Trish said to him, referring to the lower class demons. "They won't attack you as long as you're with me." Vergil didn't say anything in return. It was getting on Trish's never that he was seeing her as non-existent. "Starting to regret not brining your weapon with you?" she sneered.

"Is your job to take me to that person or have a chit-chat here with me?" Vergil asked her back coldly. He didn't like her from the very first moment she spoke to him. She was clearly a being hidden under the skin of his mother. Trish threw up her hands and declared defeat. Turning her back on him, she led him into the dark corridor.

It was not hard to figure out that no one lived there for a long time. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. Cobwebs were found on every single ceiling corners and windows. Despite its currently condition, there was no doubt it used to belong to a rich family. The floor was covered with fine red carpet. All the furniture was beautifully crafted and thoughtfully positioned. Vergil could see all these only because candles lit up the corridors they walked. Occasionally, Arachne and Blood-Goyle could be spotted but they never came close, as though they were fearful of them.

It wouldn't be far-fetched at all to describe the castle as a huge maze. The silver-hair young man was led upstairs, made half a dozen turns, walked past rooms that have identical-looking doors. At last, Trish stopped in front of a room that looked like it belonged to an important person. "Master, we're coming in," she knocked on the door.

"Enter," Vergil heard someone inside said. He couldn't make out how old the speaker was, but it sounded like a man. Trish pushed opened the door and he followed. In the dimly lit yet spacious room, a cloaked figure sat on a chair at the far end.

"I've been waiting for you, Vergil," said the cloaked man. The hood he worn hid the upper half of his face.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" asked Vergil, his eyes fixed on the stranger.

"My name is Sudnum and I need your help," the cloaked man replied. "I want you to work for me, Vergil. Do you see the darkness spreading in the hearts of humans? This world is deteriorating. The good is being consumed by the evil. Together we can gain total control of both worlds, make it a better place. You can acquire the power of your father, Sparda, which is currently sealed in the demon world. You will become the second most powerful figure in both worlds. Then you would be able to carry out your own justice and cleanse all evil in the human world. And of course, I'll be able to answer the question you have always wanted to know; the question had been haunting you since eight years ago. It is the very reason why you came here."

Vergil didn't like how much he knew about him. The man in front of him had too good an idea the way he thought, what he saw as important and what he wanted. He was sure someone else was behind this and he might have an idea who it was.

Hearing no response from Vergil,Sudnum continued. "In order to prove that you are sincere, all you need to do is kill those twin priestesses whom you acquaint with. That should not be a difficult task for you since you have their trust."

"I have no intention to help someone who would not even show their face to me," Vergil said, his handsome face remained expressionless.

Sudnum was not angered. "My appearance is not important. Until my full power returns to me, it is necessary for me to stay this way." Standing up, he slowly walked towards Vergil and Trish. He walked past the two and paused. "It was very courageous for you to come alone unarmed. I hope I will hear good news from you soon, Vergil," he said before existing the room. Trish followed her master, leaving the silver hair young man by himself.

By the time Vergil came out, he was just in time to see the two made a turn down the corridor on his left. It looked like he would find them in the West side of the castle. In the corridor he stood were many glass windows that stood grandly on the edge of the floor and extend up to the ceiling. A strong flash of lightning ran along the dark sky, brightening up night into day for a split second. Although well hidden, the silhouette behind the curtains didn't escape Vergil's sharp eyes. When he pushed aside the curtain, he found the dark haired girl looking at him, her peridot green eyes widened in surprise.

"Rei? No, Mia? Why are you here?" asked Vergil, glaring at her as though she had done something wrong.

"Does it matter who I am?" Mia asked him back. She had found the room by following the voices' origin by using herkeen hearing. If it wasn't the lightning, Vergil would not have found her. She was so close to evading him just like how she slipped under the noses of Trish andSudnum moments ago. "I should be the one asking you, Vergil. What are you doing here? Are you planning on betraying us?" she demanded.

Wondering how much she had heard, Vergil's lips curled up to a smirk. He slowly walked towards one of the empty silver knights that stood in the corridor. "Betraying you?" Faster than her eyes could follow, he pulled out a sword from a knight and threw it in her direction.

Responding as quickly as her body allowed, Mia hurled herself out the way. She looked back to Vergil but he wasn't looking at her. Above where she stood hung a dead Marionette, a type of demon that took the form of a human-sized puppet manipulated by evil spirits. The sword pierced through its head with deadly accuracy. Mia moved away from it but her shirt was already stained by demon blood spilled out from the Marionette.

"Betraying you won't advantage me. I'm here to find out about something," Vergil said, responding to the girl's puzzled look.

"To find out about what?" Mia asked. Perhaps she had misunderstood him.

"That's none of your business, Mia," Vergil said. The elder twin sister would never ask him so directly, he figured. In addition, she was more likely to be Mia, as only she would be mischievous enough to follow him there.

Mia could never understand why people could tell between her and her twin sister sometimes. "Aren't you going to kill me?" she asked him frigidly. "You can gain a lot if you do that, can't you?" Actually, she only heard the last part of the conversation. She guessed the cloaked figure would have offered him something great if he did what he was asked to. And she was proved herself right.

"You shouldn't be here, leave," Vergil said, his ice blue eyes penetrating into hers with an invisible force. He didn't seem moved by her words at all.

Mia indeed felt insecure in the castle and found no reason to protest. Without a word, she hurried past him, heading the opposite end of the corridor where Trish andSudnum went.

* * *

Author's notes: 

Enzo is not an OC. He is from the DMC3 manga. Anyone who has read it will know. As with the castle setting, I actually did a bit of research on it before writing.I was surprised by the number of castles that still exist today.


	3. Chapter 3

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Chapter 3

Following the movement of their prey, four marionettes crashed into the dance hall one after the other. The size of the dance hall was large enough to hold a few hundred guests easily. On one side of the hall were twin staircases that lead upwards to the floor above. Through their dull red eyes, the marionettes searched for something. The only sound that could be heard was the noise made by the movement of their wooden joints.

Breathing as lightly as she could, Mia stood very still on the balcony outside the same dance hall. Not long after parting with Vergil, a bunch of marionettes sensed her presence and started chasing her around the castle. The size of the ancient architecture was enough to get one lost. Having demons chasing after her at the same time didn't help. Mia didn't have the slightest idea which part of the castle she was in. Slowly turning her head around, she took a peak inside the hall and let out a sigh of relief. It looked like the marionettes decided to look elsewhere for her.

Mia looked behind her and was fascinated by the scenery she failed to notice before. If it was during the day a beautiful sight of the ocean could be clearly viewed from the balcony she was on. Nothing blocked her vision since that side of the castle stood on a cliff.

The moment she was going to go back inside the dance hall, they attacked At first, they looked like birds. Without any warning, a flock of what looked like a red, large, nondescript shape flew at her and started pecking and scratching aggressively with their peaks and talons. Frantically, Mia used her arms to knock them away. It didn't help at all. Blood ran down her arms, dropping on the old balcony. The smell of blood attracted more of them. Some began to slam themselves against her. One knocked her back with such great force that for a moment she lost her balance. When she realised she was cornered to the edge of the balcony, she was falling. Behind her was nothing but a sheer cliff.

Someone sprang open the glass door that separated the dance hall and balcony. That person grabbed Mia's wrist and dragged her all the way back inside the hall, closing the doors behind to lock out the ferocious Blood-Goyles. While she was trying to catch her breath, Mia looked up to see who rescued her. It was Vergil.

"Why?" Mia asked. Her heart was beating so hard she was afraid he would hear it. Her legs felt weak. "You're not just here to invite me to a dance, are you?" she added sarcastically. The tiled floor felt cold beneath her

"I asked you to leave before and you're still here," Vergil said. It took him a while to find out where she was because she made little noise when fighting off the Blood-Goyles. She just survived death moments ago but was staring at him steadily with her green eyes.

"I suppose you're here to escort me out then?" Mia asked. She breathed in, held her breath and stood up straight.

Disregarding the girl's sarcasm, Vergil began to walk towards the other exit of the hall, one opposite to the one Mia and the marionettes entered by. Just as he expected, he heard footsteps behind him moments later. The younger of the twin sisters might be stubborn but she wasn't stupid. It would be risky for her to go the direction the marionettes went. It'd be even more senseless if she took the stairs that lead up when she needed to be heading down.

After exiting the dance hallthere was another corridor. Only this one had no windows. "You can laugh at me if you want. You don't have to hold back," Vergil heard her say from the back. He stopped and turned to face her.

Mia was angry at herself. She must look so pitiful in her current state. Her badly scratched arms had just stopped bleeding and were covered in her own dried blood. Her face had a few scratches too. Her straight black hair was messy. Her black blouse was half shredded.

Vergil laughed three times mockingly. "Are you satisfied now?"he asked her. Not waiting a response from Mia, he continued his way down the corridor. What Vergil failed to see was the stunned look on her face.

* * *

Dante put on the break and the bike immediately came to a halt. Rei got off the bike to take a good look at a sign in front of them. Opposite of the sign was an unoccupied phone booth. "This is it," she said to Dante when she returned to the bike. The place matched the description Mia mentioned to her before. They decided to go further down the road to see if anything would give them clues as to where Vergil and Mia went. 

The sky was now covered by clouds for as far as Dante could see. A thunder storm was gradually approaching the region. Spectacular lightning showed off its greatness by threatening to rip open the night sky. The sounds of thunder were no nocturne; and they were getting more frequent.

"Dante, look up there!" Dante looked towards the direction where Rei pointed. As though the sky wanted him to see it too, a strong lightning struck, allowing him to see an old castle on a hill. It didn't look very far away.

"Let's hope there are a few sexy vampires up there," he said light-heartedly and accelerated.

Rain began to fall when they found Trish's truck next to the path that lead to the castle entrance. They quickened their pace as the rain got heavier. Soon they were in front of the large wooden door. Before Rei could say anything, Dante pushed it open as if he were naturally at home. Rei was unpleasantly surprised by his boldness.

"Hah, this is definitely the right place," Dante said, raising his guard. "Is there something?" Rei asked. She didn't see anything that looked unusual.

"Whoever owns this place has lots of demon friends it seems," Dante said.

"Wait a minute," Rei said, seeing he was going to take the spiral stairs up to the lit corridor on the floor above.

"We shouldn't go up from here. This place looks pretty big so there should be another way up," Rei said.

"Why do we need to find another way up when there's a way right in front us?" Dante was dumbfounded.

"Doesn't it look like we'll attract just a little attention if we take that route?" Rei couldn't believe how much common sense wasn't in him. However, it wasn't a good time to argue with him either. "Please, Dante?"

Dante sighed. If Mia was there she probably would've asked if he was stupid or something. It didn't matter to him at all whether he got noticed or not. He took out the coin he always kept in his pocket. It was a very useful item whenever he and Vergil didn't agree with something, which was basically all the time. "Let do it this way," Dante showed her the coin. "Are we both cool?" Rei nodded. "I'll take heads then," Dante said. He flipped the coin in the air. It landed on tails.

"Let's take this way," Rei lead the way, happy that she won.

"I'm not having much luck with this coin lately," Dante mumbled. He followed the girl while examining the coin to see if there were any defects on it.

After a while of searching, they came across a pure white set of straight stairs. It stood out from the rest of the features in the castle because it just didn't seem to belong. On the first step craved: "up leads to the future".

They both froze on their spot after taking a couple of steps. _What the hell?_ Dante thought and took another step upward. He was seeing things. Each step he took, he was looking at a scene he had not seen before. It was gone as fast as it came to him. One moment he was seeing a seemingly fainted twin. It was too fast for him to tell which one it was, Rei or Mia. The next moment he saw Vergil face-off with him with Yamato in his hand. He took another step. An image of a woman who looked exactlylike his mother smiled wickedly at him.

"Dante…" Rei's voice trailed off. Dante foundtraces of fear in her captivating green eyes. Even without saying anything, he knew what she was thinking. The stairs were letting them look into the future. He suspect what they saw was different because he saw it through his perspective.

"Come on," Dante turned around. This time, he whistled as he started going up once again. With his best effort he ignored the scenes in his head. Rei summoned up her courage and followed behind. The strangeness of the place made her more worried about Mia. She knew it was probably a trick trying to wear them down mentally. Only it was far too real to ignore. The "future" she was being shown was grim and depressing. She didn't want to take another step. Dante stopped too when she did. He was a few steps from the first floor. She was around half-way up. The stairs were longer than the usual length of one floor. At the time the castle was constructed, high ceilings were popular.

"Just think about pizza," Dante cupped his hand around his mouth and called down to her.

"Pizza?" Rei was clueless. _What was he talking about?_

"Tell me one thing you can put on a pizza as **a** topping each step you take," Dante grinned. Rei considered it for a moment. It might sound childish but it might just do the trick. While heading up, she said out aloud, naming each ingredient as he suggested.

* * *

In another part of the castle, Vergil and Mia arrived at another set of stairs. Stern as always, Vergil walked a little ahead in silence. Mia didn't say anything more after he gave her the laughing response. The downward stairs didn't look like a part of the castle for the reason it was built with ink black stone from steps to hand rail. On the first step downward, words were engraved: "down leads to the past". They both felt the strange atmosphere emanating from it. However, neither of them intended to sound awkward by saying they are worried about a mere set of stairs. 

The instant Vergil stepped onto the eerie stairway, it happened. He could see the remains of his mother right in front of his eyes, exactly the same as eight years ago. It was a horrific sight. As though she was brutally torn apart by a beast, parts of her body scattered around the room. The image disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He glanced over to Mia but she didn't seem to see it. Thinking he must have imagined it, Vergil continued his way down. He quickly knew it was not his own imagination when he took the next step. He saw a young Dante holding his head with his hands, screaming out aloud though he couldn't hear. It was gone in a flash too.

Vergil saw Mia beside him froze on a step. It appeared that she was not seeing the same thing as him. She was staring at the black steps ahead in disbelief, but was not as shocked as she would be if she hadseen a gruesome death. Despite their silence, they both knew the stairs were invoking their memories from the past. They were looking back at an important time of their past each step they took.

In a steady pace, Vergil began walking down the steps. Fragments of his past were played out to him like a slide show. Eva gave him and Dante half an amulet each on their birthday. It rained on the day they attended their mother's funeral. He was a little surprised to find Mia following quite closely behind. He thought she would be more hesitant. The time he spent with Mia was short so he hardly knew her. Unlike her more subtle twin, Mia was direct as she always spoke what was on her mind.

Almost at the same time, they heard Dante and Rei's voices nearby. Mia found Vergil glaring at her. He didn't look very happy at all. In fact, Mia found his expression a little scary. She only remembered she hadn't hold Vergil about Dante and Rei coming. Pretending not to notice, she hurried towards the source of the voices. Vergil followed her.

"Rei!" Mia found her twin near the top of a pure white set of stairs. "Pineapple, mushroom…Mia!" Rei looked at her in surprise. She didn't expect to find Mia so soon. "What are you talking about, mushroom?" Mia chuckled, interested to find out what was going on. Moments ago she was still regretting calling Rei to this place.

"Hey, dear brother," Dante greeted his twin. "I hope you got us a good video, since you took a whole night choosing it." Behind him he heard Rei asking Mia about the wounds on her face and arms.

"My apologies for keeping you waiting," Vergil replied in his emotionless tone. "Give it to me," he referred to Yamato. Apparently, Dante brought it along with him. He was carrying on his back along with his own sword, the Rebellion. Behind him, he could hear Mia lying about how she got hurt.

"Before that, mind telling me what you're up to at a place like this?" Dante asked.

"It's none of your – "

"Business. I know, I know, you always say that," Dante interrupted him with a bored face. "Can you tell me something I don't know? Such as, who is that _blonde haired_ woman who brought you here?"

"You are not supposed to be here, Dante. Same goes for those two over there," Vergil said. "If you don't leave quickly, you won't be able to do so soon."

Dante was a little surprised to find slight anxiety coming from his calm and collected twin. There were two ways to get information from Vergil: either wait for him to say it willingly or force it out of him. The latter option never worked though. Suddenly the ground shook. A loud sound could be heard. It was getting louder by the second.

"An earthquake?" Mia asked. Thin cracks appeared in the ceiling and streaks of sand-like building material rained down on them.

"No," Rei listened to the approaching sound. "Something's coming." She turned around in time to see an Arachne rushing towards her. Its menacing front legs were sharp, crescent-shaped blades. In a flash, Dante got between the two. With Rebellion, he struck the spider-shape demon and sent it flying back to a large crowd of its relatives behind it.

Vergil could see more than twenty Arachnes. More seemed to be coming from the floor above as well as the floor they were on. "Dante!" he called to his twin with a louder voice than usual.

"Alright, alright," Dante reached behind his back for Yamato. "I'll let you borrow it for now. I'm not done with you yet," he said and threw the katana to Vergil.

The elder twin caught his sword in the air. Three unfortunate Arachnes nearby became the newest victims of the deadly Yamato. Fighting back to back, Dante and Vergil killed more of those huge spider demons. The more they killed, the more came at them.

The numberof Arachnes that were approachingwas shocking. Rei didn't understand what triggered their sudden assault. They were coming from everywhere except below. Mia was not as calm as her sister. She disliked spiders, especially ones so huge. Hundreds of small red eyes glowed in the dark, staring at them with intent.

Gracefully, Vergil evaded a rush attack from another Arachne. He finished it off without even blinking. There wasn't time for him to brush off the green body liquid from the demon before he had to handle two more heading towards him. "Come on, let's get out of here!" he heard Mia say.

"I know you won't like it, Verg, but I really do think now is a good time to head home." Dante cut off the legs of an Arachne that tried to sneak up from behind.

"Running away from enemies? Never," Vergil replied simply.

"I knew you'd say that," Dante grumbled. "Sorry, Vergil is just too proud to run away from spiders," he yelled over the Rei and Mia.

Vergil looked over to Rei and found her looking at him too. She was calm and tranquil in the middle of such chaos. Her expression was soft but questioning. _Why?_ He could see it written on her face. Vergil closed his eyes and sheathed his katana.

"Changed your mind?" Dante raised an eyebrow.

"This is called retreating," Vergil said.

"Retreating?" Dante laughed, "I'll keep that in mind."

When the four of them reached the ground floor, they found it filled with Arachnes as well. There were so many of them the carpet was not longer visible. They were forced to go down to the basement. Oddly, the spider demons ceased their pursuit and remained on the ground floor.

The first room they found themselves in appeared to be a dungeon guard room. There was no light in the basement but their eyes have adjusted to the darkness. In the room, there was a desk, chair, as well as a cupboard full of numbered keys. All those look like they haven't been touched for years. A rather strange feature was the presence of four large round holes around the size of a soccer ball located on the upper corners of the room.

Whilst the others were busy checking out the room, Dante noticed a leaver sticking out from the wall. Curious of what it is, he pulled it. Nothing happened.

A few seconds later, the door that lead back up to the ground floor slammed shut. Then, water began pouring into the room.

* * *

Author's note: I'd like to thank the two wonderful friends who check this fic for me. You know who you are I won't be able to present this fic with so few writing errors without your help. 


	4. Chapter 4

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Chapter 4

* * *

Being closest to the shut door, Rei checked the knob. "It's locked," she told them in dismay. It made sense why the Arachnes didn't follow them down. Spiders hated water. 

"Dante you idiot!" Mia cried.

"Idiot brother," Vergil agreed.

"Hey, I didn't know it would do that!" Dante defended. He could see the water was pouring in from the four inlets above their heads. Even though it only started moments ago, the water level was rising to their knee.

Checking the other door that led to the prison cells, Vergil discovered it was shut tight as well. "This must have been a convenient trick. Lure the enemies into this basement and then pour in water to drown them all. It would have been pretty useful to kill large number of prisoners quickly too," he commented.

Rei yanked on the knob as hard as she could. It wouldn't budge. Mia tried kicking down the metal door, but received the same result. Dante took out Rebellion and hacked the table and cupboard in pieces.

"What did you do that for?" Mia yelled at him angrily.

"I was just making sure there's no secret passage behind the cupboard," Dante shrugged.

"Thanks," the girl muttered, not exactly happy about the pieces of cut-up furniture that was floating around them. At the time, water was already up to their waists.

"You're welcome," Dante replied.

It was just as Vergil suspected, the invitation was a trap. "Trish," he said with a loud voice. "I know you can hear me. What's the meaning of this?"

A moment later came Trish's voice. "This is a trap for the intruders. However, if you're strong enough to help my master, you should be able to make it out of this. Good luck," she finished off in an amused tone.

"Are you not telling me something, Vergil?" Dante asked. He could hardly trust his own ears. At the same time, he had no doubt that was their mother's voice. Anger began to build in his chest when he received nothing but silence from Vergil.

Grabbing Vergil's collar with both hands, Dante asked again. "Who was that?" he shouted in his face. Rei felt her heart beat harder the moment he did that. Mia bit her lip to ease the nervousness she felt. Two pairs of identical blue eyes stared at each other. Vergil's calmness seemed to absorb the anger coming from Dante.

"Stop it you two!" Rei interrupted. It was the first time she saw an argument between the brothers.

"This isn't the time in case you haven't noticed," Mia added.

"Do you want to become a fish in this underground tank?" Vergil asked Dante apathetically.

Dante snorted and released his elder twin. With no place to release his anger, he turned around and gave the wall a hard kick. The water was in the way but he hardly noticed. To his surprise, the wall crumbled. The four of them were instantly washed into the next room. Immediately, the water level decreased as the volume increased.

"Do you mind telling us what you're going to do next time you plan on doing something?" Mia asked, brushing away some wet hair that had stuck to her face.

"I thought girls love surprises," said Dante, not forgetting his sense of humor.

Rei put a hand on Mia's shoulder just when she was going to say something back to him. She shook her head and gave Mia a disapproving look. Making a face, Mia kept silent. It wasn't like she didn't know it was no a time for arguments. She wasn't too thrilled about how Rei still treated her like a child.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked when Mia suddenly took off her shoes. Her twin winked and threw the shoes upwards into the air. It went through the ceiling. There was another hole above their heads that was big enough for a person to go through. Using the crevices in the brick wall as support, Mia climbed up onto the floor above. She found herself in a weapon storage room.

"What've you found up there?" she heard Dante yelling up from below. "I hope it's the kitchen, because I'm starving."

"If you don't mind having a few rusty swords," she returned to the broken ceiling where she came up from. Rei, too, was soon out of the water and up on dry ground with some help from Mia. When Dante was about half way up, dangling on the edge around the wrecked ceiling, he heard noises coming from below. He looked down and saw a huge eel-like demon that was not there before. Its tube-shaped body was as at least twice the size of a python's.

The name of the demon was Anguila.With his sword out already, Vergil fixed his eyes on it like a hawk on its prey. Anguila was a demon with round head. Its body was scaleless; instead, it was covered in a slime-like substance. Seemingly it came in through one of the water inlets from the prison guard room. Hearing a loud splash from behind, Vergil turned around and saw Dante.

"What are you coming back for? Foolish move, Dante," Vergil returned his attention back to Anguila, which now had its head raised above the water with its mouth opened.

"I'm not going to let you have all the fun," Dante wrinkled his nose. He was staring at the other head of Anguila. The demon had no tail but two heads. "I think it's due for a dental appointment," he commented when he saw the blade-like sharp teeth in its mouth. Anguila didn't seem to appreciate his joke. In return, it lunged forward with speed faster than he imagined. Realising it attempted to wrap its long body around him, Dante quickly dodged to the side. He felt like he was zapped by high voltage electricity when he touched its body. Taking note of Dante's reaction, Vergil learnt to stay back and wait for chances. While it was busy dealing with his twin brother, Vergil attacked the other head. However, Anguila was smarter than he thought. It sank its other head back into the water to avoid being cut by the sharp katana.

Once again, the water had risen to waist level. Vergil and Dante found their movements getting heavier due to the hindrance of water. On the other hand, Anguila's movement was getting faster. It stopped wrestling with Dante and sank itself into the dark water. Without warning, it appeared again behind the elder twin, its hungry mouth aiming for the opening on his back. Using his quick reflexes, Vergil blocked it with Yamato with precise timing. It was within his expectation that something like that would happen. Anguila screeched in pain when the katana cut apart its teeth into the flesh of its jaw. Dante used this opportunity to take out Ebony and Ivory. While being careful not to shoot Vergil as well by accident, he fired consecutive shots. Seconds later, half of the head was gone.

With only one head remaining, Anguila swam down and wrapped itself around Vergil's legs. He tried to cut it with his katana but only cut water. Without knowing its exact location, it was near impossible to hurt it when it was underwater. Water was now touching their necks, if they needed to act quickly. Inhaling a lungful of air, Dante dived down with his sword ready in one hand. He couldn't see anything at all in the water. He only knew he should head for where Vergil was. Just when he thought he was near, Dante felt a sharp pain on his arm, causing him to let out the lungful of air he had been holding. He was almost choked by water that rushed into his mouth. Obviously, Anguila had sunk its teeth into his flesh. Things didn't look good. He wondered if his arm would come off. On the other hand, though, he found out where Anguila was. Not wasting any more time, he tightened his grip on Rebellion and cut towards where he thought Anguila's neck was.

It worked. Vergil felt Anguila's wrap on him loosened. Dante burst out of the water next to him, grasping for air like his life depended on it while coughing out water he involuntarily drank at the same time. He felt his arm with his other one, glad to found it was still attached to his shoulder. "Aren't you going to thank me for saving your butt?" Dante asked Vergil.

"Saved my life? I doubt it," Vergil replied. The two of them found the hole on the ceiling and climbed up. Just as Mia said, they were in a weapon storage area. It was about three times bigger than the room they were in previously. They heard the sound of weapons slashing against each other before taking notice of the presence of more demons. A group of Hell-Prides were keeping the twin girls busy. A few swords that had been cut in halves were found lying on the floor. They guessed Rei and Mia tried to use those against the demons but the weapons were old and didn't last. It explained why Rei had a steel rod in her hand whereas Mia had some sort of long clamp that was once used to forge swords. By the time they noticed Vergil, he was finishing off the last demon in sight.

Leaving the weapon storage room, a long hallway was ahead. Something could be seen at the end of it but none of them could see it clearly from where they were. They went towards that direction with Vergil and Dante walking slightly ahead of Rei and Mia.

"Vergil," Rei suddenly spoke. "Why are there demons here? Someone's trying to kill us, am I not right?"

"Indeed, this is a trap," Vergil replied, his ice blue eyes meeting her beautiful green ones. "A trap that Mundus successfully lured us into," he finished.

_Was it why he came alone and unarmed?_ It suddenly occurred to Mia. "I thought we sealed off the portal to the demon world. Why are there still demons here?"

"There are probably other ways that they can use to come to our world," Rei told her.

_Vergil didn't want to get us involved in this_, Dante thought. He mentally kicked himself for not realising it sooner. Even so, he was still not happy about the fact that Vergil was keeping important details from him.

Without any warning, three red circles appeared in the air in front of them. One by one, demons dropped out from those circles. They were Hell-Prides, Hell-Lusts and Hell-Wraths.

"Time to rock," Dante said, drawing out Ebony and Ivory. He shot the Hell-Wrath furthest away from them. The large orange bomb it carried on its back exploded and killed the nearby Hell-Lusts. Vergil took on the other Hell-Lusts and left the weakest of the seven sins, Hell-Prides, for Rei and Mia to take care of.

Seeing a Hell-Pride was swinging its scythe in her direction, Rei bravely blocked it with her rod with both hands. Unlike the Mia, Rei was less sporty and playful. As though she had infinite amount of energy in her, Mia moved around a lot when she was little. Perhaps it was not surprising that she turned out faster and more agile than her elder twin. The demon pressed down its scythe harder. With all her strength, Rei pushed back. She almost lung forward involuntarily when Mia knocked down the Hell-Pride, causing the pressure to suddenly disappear.

"You're gone!" Dante said as he gave a finishing kick to the last Hell-Lust after shooting it into a bees nest. They were finally at the end of the hallway after doing some demon clean up. Being close to it now, they could take a good look of what they couldn't see clearly before. Instead of being covered with red carpet, the floor in front of them was made up of large square tiles. Taking note of something carved on a marble pillar to his right, Vergil went over to examine it. The others gathered around him to see what it was.

Neatly craved on the marble pillar was a table made up of five horizontal rows and five vertical columns. In each of the twenty-five cells, there was a four-digit number written. It was obvious that the table was related to the titled floor, since the floor was arranged in the same way, with five rows and five columns. Other than numbers, there was nothing else written.

"Oh, I love puzzles," Dante said, "My second favourite after pizza."

"It doesn't even say what we have to do," Mia said, frowning. "What if we just ignore these numbers and walk across?"

Dante shrugged. "Let's find out, shall we?" he took off the helmet of a nearby silver knight and threw it on the tiles. Long cone-shaped spikes sprouted out from the tile the helmet landed on.

"Unless you are desperate for a foot massage," Dante said.

Ignoring his comment, Mia decided to go back to study the clues. Before she did, Rei joined them. "I've figured it out," she smiled and stepped onto a tile. Mia almost screamed but nothing happened to her twin sister. No spikes popped out from below. Dante and Mia watched in amazement as she made it across safely without stepping on a wrong tile. She then directed the others as to which tile they should step on each row in order to go past the puzzle.

"Madness," Dante said, impressed. "How did you do that?"

"When you look at the table at first, the numbers didn't seem to relate. If you look at it more closely, the numbers on the same row are actually divisible by a common denominator. But, we still don't know which tile to step on yet. Looking at the row again, you will find one starting digit that corresponds to the common denominator. For example, if two is the common denominator of row one, look for the number in the same row that starts with two. That's the tile you should step on," Rei explained.

"You worked it out so quickly in your head?" Dante asked, stunned but agreed with her reasoning.

"There are people who have more brain cells than you," Vergil said.

"Ha ha, very funny," Dante said. "I don't see you working it out faster than her."

They reached an art gallery soon after leaving the hallway. Different sizes of oil paintings hang over all four sides of the gallery. The exits were closed up by red seals the moment they entered. Immediately, everyone stayed on guard, because a red seal meant they had to fight and defeat something before they could leave. They waited a while but no demons appeared. Dante headed over to the paintings and started looking at them while they waited.

Rei watched as Vergil too, went to look at the art work on display. Despite the urge to ask him why he came to this castle for, she waited patiently. She knew very well that even if she asked, he wouldn't tell her. Waiting for him to say it seemed to be the only way, but would he ever? Mia was standing a little bit further away. She looked like she was in deep thought, which was rare for her. Rei shuddered when she suddenly remember seeing her twin dead when she was walking up the Stairway of the Future. Whilst the other two weren't in the option, Rei decided to check on Dante, who was closest to her. "I didn't know Dante you had an eye for art," she said to him.

"Believe it or not, art was my best subject in primary school," Dante told her with a grin.

"Because it required the least thinking," they heard Vergil said from the opposite side.

"Hey Rei, guess what Vergil said when he sleep-talked the other night?" Dante asked, and then pretended to whisper something into her ear.

"I don't sleep-talk," Vergil said.

Standing a little away from Vergil was Mia. Like everyone else, she was looking at a painting. Though, her mind was elsewhere. She wanted to talk to Rei about the conversations Vergil had with the two strangers. It just didn't seem like the right time or place to say it. There was something else she wanted to as her twin about; something she saw as she walked down the Stairway of the Past.

Then, something in the painting caught her eyes. All four of them noticed it at around the same time. They were looking at different paintings but seeing similar things.

"The painting…!" Rei gasped, hardly believed what was happening.

"I bet this worth more than Mona Lisa," said Dante light-heartedly.

"So this is it," Vergil said, his right hand placed on Yamato's hilt.

Rubbing her eyes, Mia looked at the painting in front of her again. The illustration depicted a Hell-Greed with a coffin on its back, walking down a mount of corpses. Each time she looked at it, it grew bigger, as if it was heading towards her. "No way," she said in disbelief, backing away slowly. The demon's image grew bigger until its head filled the entire illustration. Bit by bit, it crawled out of the frame. Head first, then arms and body followed. Finally it dropped on the gallery floor with a loud thud. The same thing was happening to all the other paintings.

Vergil and Mia quickly regrouped with Dante and Rei. Sooner than they expected, they were surrounded by a crowd of demons. At first, it was Vergil and Dante who did most of the killing. Rei and Mia focused on protecting themselves. Eventually, they were cornered. Not knowing there was a secret door there, Mia leant her back against the wall as support and fell backwards into the space beyond. Her reflex action caused her grabbed onto something, which turned out to be Rei. Both girls fell hard onto the floor on the other side. Before they could do anything, the door shut on them, not leaving a crack.

"Man, let us through too!" said Dante as he pounded his fists on the place where the secret door was. As if nothing happened, Vergil calmly eliminated the Hell-Greeds in smooth, water-like movements. As usual, Dante used his mixture of arsenal and sword to take on the demons.

"We should hurry, separating us is likely to be part of their plan," Vergil said to Dante, his hand not pausing the wielding of his katana.

"As if I don't know," Dante replied, crushing the head of another Hell-Greed under his boots. The red seals disappeared when they eliminated all the demons.

Vergil headed towards the exit but stopped when he realised Dante was not following. He turned around to face him. Times like this indicated his blabbermouth brother had something to say.

"In case you were too shy to admit this in front of the girls, let's spill the beans now. You're here to find out about mum, aren't you?" asked Dante. Taking Vergil's silence as a yes, he continued, "Mum is dead. Why can't you just take that in and move on?"

"I need to find out who killed her," answered Vergil.

"Oh yeah? And then what, kill the murderer? What good does it do? It's not going to make her come back alive."

"I'm not like you, Dante," said the elder twin brother. "I can't just forget about something like that like you do."

There was a moment of silence before Dante spoke again. "What about Rei and Mia? They care about you, especially Rei. Why do you just ignore them?" He knew Vergil would never seek help from the woman named Trish when water flooded into the prison room if Rei and Mia weren't there.

"Women who come too close to demons never had good endings to them. Moths are attracted to fire but that same fire will burn them alive," Vergil said. "If you care about them, stay away from them." Having said that, he turned around and walked away.

Dante clenched his fist. He knew his brother was referring to their human mother Eva, who married the great demon knight Sparda. Putting away Rebellion, he followed the way Vergil went.

* * *

Author's note: This week's chapter is late, I know. I've been so busy. Thanks to those you have commented! I really appreciate it. 


	5. Chapter 5

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Chapter 5

* * *

It had been some time since Vergil and Dante were separated from the Rei and Mia. Once again, they found themselves lost inside the old castle. 

"Forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight…"

"Would you stop it?" Vergil said in irritation. Fifteen minutes ago, Dante started to count each silver knight as they walked past.

"What's wrong? It doesn't hurt anyone," Dante shrugged and continued counting. The next moment, the knight he just counted scattered on the floor in pieces. Vergil sheathed his katana and raised his eyebrow at the younger twin. "Fine," Dante thought it'd be a good time to shut up.

They made a turn at the next corner and found themselves staring at another dead end. "Not again," groaned Dante. On their right there was a strange ornament stuck on the wall with strange symbols around it. There were ten different kinds in total. Each symbol carried a faint red glow.

Vergil watched as his twin started smashing the ornament with Rebellion. He had gotten used to it. Whenever Dante reached his tolerance limit, he always destroyed the nearest item in sight. Only this time, the symbols lit up one by one as he struck it. Soon, all ten symbols lit up like lightbulbs, emitting a brilliant radiance. The dead end opened up and revealed a new path ahead.

"It's sad isn't it," Dante sighed, whilst his face told a different story. "They said geniuses always die young." The moment he finished saying that, a figure came running from the path that just appeared in front of them.

Mia's eyes widened when she saw the twins. Unaware that there was a fallen vase on the ground, she tripped. Dante caught her before she could land flat on her face. He and Vergil didn't have to wait long to find out why she was in such a hurry. A cloud of darkness formed in the air and out came a Hell-Vanguard.

"Be careful, its weapon is long-range," Mia warned. While Vergil was blocking its direct attack, Dante used the chance to fire at the demon. The Hell-Vanguard was strong but didn't last long against Sparda's sons. After being eliminated, it turned into red orbs.

"Where's Rei?" Dante asked Mia.

"We got separated when we were being chased by demons," answered Mia. Her face was a little pale.

"Really? Is that really when you were separated?" someone asked. It wasn't Vergil or Dante. The three of them searched for the origin of the voice. A woman with blonde hair stood next to an angel statue, her face hidden in the shadow. Dante knew who she was instantly from her voice.

"Who are you?" Mia remembered that she was the one who drove the truck and brought her there. She didn't understand why she was being asked such a strange question.

Trish stepped out of the shadow**s**. Her long blonde hair fluttered behind her like a golden hood. For the first time, Mia saw her face. She looked like she was in her early thirties. Those blue eyes of hers were familiar to Mia. "Impossible," she shook her head in disbelief. "Ms Eva?"

Dante didn't know which he should be more stunned by: the fact that he was seeing someone who looked exactly like his mother or the fact Mia seemed to know his mother.

"You know someone called Eva?" Vergil asked her tensely. He never imagined the clues he needed could be so close. The chances of Mia knowing his mother's cause of death was low but it wasn't zero.

"I…" she uttered. His piercing blue eyes looked like they were trying to see through her, searching for information in her head. So much was happening at the same time she couldn't catch up. Suddenly, she knew where she had seen Trish's eyes before. There was a strong resemblance between her and the half-human brothers.

"You know where your twin sister is, don't you?" Trish continued, "Why are you so afraid to accept the truth?"

Some images flashed inside Mia's head, though she wasn't fast enough to grasp it. "What are you talking about?"

Trish's lips curled up to a fiendish smile. Dante remembered he saw that image in his head while walking up the stairs of the future. "Is it because she is dead?" she asked. "And that you killed her?"

"No," Mia shook her head, her long strands of black hair fluttered in the air. Her heart was beating fast. Rei couldn't be dead. They just got separated. Or did they really get separated? Where were they separated? Had she forgotten something important? The more she tried to remember, the more her head ached.

Mia killing Rei was the last thing Dante would believe. On the other hand, Mia's responses were strange and suspicious. Having similar feeling as Dante, Vergil was more concerned about what Trish was trying to do, and why she was doing it.

"I take that as you've forgotten how your twin died," Trish said, walking closer to Mia and Vergil.

"Rei's not dead!" Mia cried, holding her head with both hands. "I didn't kill her!" Trish's words echoed in her head. Why was she questioning her own memory? Why was she feeling so anxious? Where was Rei?

Trish stopped on her track when Dante drew out his guns and pointed them at her. "I don't know who you are," he said. "But I don't like the way you talk." Glancing back at Mia, she looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh Dante, you're not really going shoot me, are you?" Trish could see Dante's expression softened slightly as she spoke. While he had his attention on her face, Trish pressed down the guns being pointed at her. There was no mistake about it, Dante realised. Trish looked like she came out of the same mould as his mother Eva. He couldn't help but to wonder if Eva had a twin too. That possibility was quickly ruled out. No human could have such evil aura around them.

Taking notice that his guns were no longer pointing at her, Dante raised them again. Chuckling, Trish said, "I'll see you again soon." She turned back to the way she came, melting into the shadows.

"Where is Rei?" Dante demanded, his hands on Mia's shoulders. "You know, don't you?"

"I think I do, but I can't remember," Mia replied. She looked so lost and confused. Vergil and Dante looked at each other. Neither of them thought she could be lying.

Wincing, Mia shook off Dante's hands. She tried to move her arm but it wouldn't. The joint between her shoulder and arm dislocated. "Sorry," Dante apologised. He didn't realised he was grabbing her so hard.

As the daughter of a doctor, Mia knew a bit about emergency treatment, including how to fix her own arm. Taking a deep breath, she put it back in place. The last time she had a dislocated joint was years ago. She forgot how much it hurt.

Suddenly, she remembered everything.

"Oh man, where are we now?" Mia groaned. After falling through the secret door with Rei, they found themselves in a grand library. Similar to these old state libraries, shelves of books stack on top of each other, some unreachable unless one utilised a long ladder. There was a large, unlit crystal lamp in the centre of the library ceiling. Taking the age of the castle in consideration, the lamp was in surprisingly good condition.

Curious, Rei pulled out a random book off a shelf. While trying not to breathe in the small particles, she wiped off the thick layer of dust. The paper of the book was rough and yellow in colour, probably due to its age. It was written in a language she didn't know. She flipped through the pages and found some unusual pictures and diagrams.

"Rei," she heard Mia called her from behind. "Hmm?" Rei replied, busy looking at the book.

"There's something I want to ask you," Mia said. There was something in her voice that caused Rei to stop reading.

"Can you tell me again how mum died?"

Rei froze. She wished she just imagined what she thought her twin said. "Why are you suddenly bringing this up?" She had a bad feeling about the direction of this conversation.

"I know you told me before, but I want to hear it from you again," Mia crossed her arms and stared into her twin's face, she wanted to see how Rei's expression will change.

"Mum, she…" Rei bit her lip. It was the last question in the world she wanted to answer. Not only it brought back bitter memories, she didn't want to lie to the closest person of her. "She," Rei swallowed hard.

"So it's true. Mum didn't die from sickness. She was murdered," Mia laughed sourly. "I saw it. She was killed by her family, because they needed to get through her in order to kill us. To make her death look more natural, they put poison in her food. They killed her bit by bit, little by little…"

"Enough!" Rei covered her ears. She could shiver by just looking at Mia's eyes; they were as cold as ice.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth?" Mia asked. Rei had never heard such tone from her twin before; it was unfamiliar and harsh. It was as though she turned into other person. And it scared her.

Hearing no response from Rei, Mia continued. "Is it because I'm still a kid to you? Is that right?"

"No, I –"

"I know I'm not as smart as you, Rei. Everyone says I'm the dumb twin and I can live with that. But I have the right to know what really happened to mum!" Her heart ached slightly when she saw the upset look on Rei's face. The words hurt her.

"No, I never thought that way. I just don't want you to -" at the same moment, Rei saw the cord that connected the crystal lamp to the ceiling snapped. Mia was standing directly below it. Dashing forward, Rei pushed her out of the way.

Books fell on Mia as she was pushed backknocking the bookshelves with considerable force. It was the first time she was buried under so many books. It was more painful than she imagined. By the time she got herself out of the mountain of books, she couldn't see much because the air was filled with dust. It was caused by the concrete that fell down along with the lamp. It didn't clear out until a couple of minutes later. The crystal lamp landed on the floor where she stood seconds ago. It was buried by large parts of ceiling concrete. Rei was nowhere to be seen.

After a while, Mia managed to choke out her twin's name. She didn't know why she was shaking her head, but she was. She didn't want to think, if she did she would have to accept the truth. If her sister wasn't anywhere in sight, there was only one place she could be. Rei wasn't the type to joke at a time like this.

It was when the Hell-Vanguard appeared.

Just as she remembered it, Mia told Vergil and Dante everything. "I'm such a coward," Mia hugged herself. "I didn't want to believe what I saw, so I just made up my own memories." Vergil and Dante listened to her in silence. Being twins as well, they could understand to some extend her reactions to the trauma. "If I wasn't so persistent, I would've noticed the lamp. If I did, Rei wouldn't have…" her throat felt so dry, it made talking difficult. She wanted to cry, but no tears would come out even if she tried forcing them to.

"Rei is not dead. She won't die so easily," Dante assured her.

"They won't let her die yet. Mundus and Trish should still have use of her," Vergil added. "What do you know about Eva?"

"Rei and I met her years ago. But she should be dead," Mia replied. "You know her too?"

Vergil's face darkened. "How do you know she died?" he drew out his katana and pointed it at her throat. "Tell me everything you know."

"I know, because Rei once told me who she is," the girl replied, not afraid of the sword at all. "I don't know any more than this." The blade moved closer to her throat. "I can't tell you what I don't know. You can stick your sword, point your guns, wrap a time bomb around me and I still won't be able to tell you. If you really want to know, you should ask Rei. She knows Ms Eva a lot more than me."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Dante pushed the two away from each other, placing himself in the middle. "Hope I don't have to make you guys shake hands. Right now, what we should do is find Rei. Then we'll find out what really happened, agreed?" He gave his elder twin an eye signal to tell him to put away the katana.

Mia almost told Vergil to go away and she would find Rei by herself. However, she refrained herself from doing so; she needed all the help she could get. It made her so angry that he didn't care about them at all. All he wanted to know was that woman called Eva, or Trish. The elder of the twin brothers had such apathetic attitude that she wondered if they were really friends. He seemed to care sometimes yet so distant most of the time. Mia couldn't understand why her kind elder twin would like him at all.

They decided to go back to the library, where Mia lost Rei. Everything stayed the same way as Mia left it. Pieces of crystals detached from the lamp scattered on the library floor. The lamp itself was as large as a dinner table. Quite an amount of concrete fell on top of it so they couldn't see what was hidden underneath. With heavy hearts, they started digging. It didn't take them very long to clear all the ceiling pieces. Dante and Mia both gasped after taking a look. There was nothing underneath the rubble. Pressing a hand on her chest, Mia let out a relieved sigh. However, just like Vergil and Dante, she couldn't help but wonder where Rei could be.

"What now?" Dante said, looking at Vergil and Mia for suggestions.

"Not a very smart question Dante. We need to find her," his elder twin said.

Dante threw up his hands. "Ok, where should we start looking?" Vergil and Mia were standing a little further apart from each other than they should. He thought it was pretty funny. They looked like people who don't want to stand next to those who just finished playing sports and sweated all over.

"We can't go through room by room, it takes too long. We need to hurry," Mia said. "I don't get it," she put a hand under her chin. It was too strange. She was almost certain the lamp fell on Rei. She couldn't just walk away without a single cut. Yet she really wasn't found under the rubble.

"We need clues," Vergil stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Well duh," Dante said, rolling his eyes. "Not like clues will appear if we ask for it."

At the corner of his eyes, Dante saw a candle near one of the four library entrances lit up. Realising the room had become a little brighter, the other two looked over to the same direction. One by one, candles lit up, unmistakeably showing them a path. No one came to light up the candles, they just lit up by themselves.

"I wonder what will happen," Dante said to Vergil. "If you say, 'we need some food,'?" As usual, Vergil ignored him. The brothers started heading towards the lit path.

"Wait, that's probably not the best way to take," Mia warned. She was surprised they didn't seem to pause even a second to think before deciding to press on.

"Do you have a better suggestion?" asked Vergil, looking back at her.

"You're going to step right into it even knowing it is a trap?" Mia didn't know if she should think of them as brave or ignorant.

"If I have to, yes," Vergil replied. He moved on, leaving Mia and Dante behind.

"No worries, Mia-mi," said Dante light-heartedly. He then turned a bit more serious. "We'll find Rei for sure."

_They're right_, Mia thought, feeling resolute. They had no choice but to keep going. Like a wind up music box, they couldn't stop until they reach the end.

* * *

Author's note: Right now it's snowing outside. It's the first time in my life to live a winter at a place that snows. Back to things related to this fic. For a few times I thought about stop writing it because no one seems to like it. I know there are people who like it, may be it's partly because of the other pressure. 

Hope everyone have a safe and happy holiday in advance.


	6. Chapter 6

Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties 

Chapter 6

Dante followed the lit path ahead of him. Vergil and Mia were walking along by his side. He was sandwiched between the two. They had been walking for a while without saying anything, intentionally ignoring each other. For several times, Dante thought about breaking the silence with some of his sense of humor. Those two were avoiding each other so naturally they were like the opposite ends of a magnet. Not that he ever thought they would get along very well. However he certainly didn't expect they wouldn't even treat each other as being present.

Meanwhile, there were many other things Dante had in mind. For one, he found it hard to one hundred percent believe Mia's version of what happened to her and Rei. He was sure Vergil believed her even less. While Mia might think she was telling the truth, it was possible for her to have made up her own memories liked previously. The whole thing was so confusing he'd rather not think about it. What were bothering him more though were the flashes of images he saw when walking up the stairway of the future. One of the scenes he saw had already came true. On their last encounter, Trish gave him an evil smirk that was exactly like what he saw. He wondered how many images he saw back then will come true.

At the corner of his eyes, Dante spotted a shadow of a person emerging from the coming corner. "Who's there?" he heard his own voice mixed with his twin's. It's not a common occurrence between them. Keeping his eye on the shadow, Dante went to check out its origin.

Dressed in old European style gown was a female mannequin at the beginning of a small room. The mannequin took a standing pose. It was holding a wine glass in her slender hand with a happy expression on its face, as if it was having an enjoyable conversation at a party. In reality, it was kept inside a large glass container.

"It's so pretty," exclaimed Mia. She pressed a hand on the glass container's smooth surface to look at mannequin more closely. The colour of its eyes matched its curly long hair, both chestnut brown. Its gown was rose red decorated with silver laces on the edges. It looked a real person frozen in time.

Vergil was examining the mannequin too, frowning slightly as he did so. Though, he didn't hover over it like Mia did.

On the other side of the room was a door. Followed by Vergil and Mia, Dante went through it and found yet another room with mannequins. This time, the room was bigger and there were three mannequins, not just one. The mannequins were a man, a woman and a little girl. The three of them were walking side by side, hands in hands. They appeared to be a family. Again they were kept inside a glass container, like mannequins placed in front of shops for window shoppers. Dante couldn't find a connection between the mannequins they were seeing now and the one before other than they were all very beautiful. The man mannequin was handsome. The female mannequin was pretty and so was the child mannequin.

Looking over to Vergil, Dante could see his twin's frown deepened. Obviously he didn't like what he was seeing. Mia had an uncomfortable expression on her face as well.

"Let's leave this place," Mia said. Dante wasn't surprised she didn't comment on how pretty those mannequins were any more. "Great minds think alike," replied Dante. He pushed open the next door. The instant they stepped foot in the next room, she groaned.

"Not again," grunted Mia. They were in a diamond-shaped room filled with more mannequins against the sides of the room. It was at least four times more spacious than the last one.

"Someone's got really bad taste," Dante agreed with her. They were looking at mannequins of different age and race. There were children, adults and elderly people of all sorts. It was a collection of people from different cultures.

"They are too real," said Mia. Indeed, the mannequins looked like they could spring to live any moment.

"They are real," said Vergil, his face darkened. Mia was surprised that Vergil actually sounded like he was disgusted by what he was seeing.

When Dante and Mia was about to ask what he meant, someone interrupted. "You are correct. They are real. I have stopped their time," said a high and squeaky voice.

They turned around to look for the speaker. In the middle of the room where there was nothing before, stood a short and skinny demon. It was similar to a dwarf but looked skinnier than a dwarf should be and didn't have pointy ears. The demon had grey skin. Not a single strand of hair was found on its body. If it had a tail it'd resemble a giant hairless rat.

"Welcome to my gallery, intruders. Raton is my name," the demon said. "How do you find my collection?"

"So you're the sick collector of this doll house," said Dante, revolted. He could barely make out there was a chair behind Raton. Someone was sitting on the chair but the light in the room was not sufficient for him to tell who it was.

"You're quite right," Raton sneered. "Would you like to see my newest addition?" It moved away so they could all see who was behind him.

"Rei!" Mia gasped. Sitting on the chair was unmistakably Rei. Her twin was no longer in her blouse and jeans. She wore a white dress long enough to cover her feet. She had her eyes closed and head tilted slightly sideways. Mia ran to towards Rei. Seeming without a reason, she tripped and fell.

Following Mia, the twins headed towards the middle of the room. Dante thought it was fishy because he was sure there was nothing she could trip on. Yet she did. "Hey, are you –" before Dante could finished his sentence, he saw Raton appeared in front of him. Without any hesitation, he drew his sword. He missed Raton by a millimeter. "Ok?" he finished off. Raton had gone to bother Vergil, who reacted pretty much the same way as him.

Mia struggled to get up but found her attempts useless. It was as though all the strength in her lower body was sucked away in an instant. Her legs felt so weak she couldn't even move a toe, not to mention standing. She looked around for anything that she could throw at the demon. She was frustrated at how helpless and useless she was. "Don't worry about me, have a look at Rei please, Dante," she said to Dante.

As a matter of fact, Dante was eager to check up on Rei too. Before he reached her, he suddenly felt a tinge of cold sensation on his left hand. A thin layer of ice had begun to form on his hand, wrapping it like plaster applied on broken bones. The layer of ice was creeping towards his wrist and arm and was getting thicker at the same time. He looked over to Vergil and noticed his twin was moving awkwardly as well.

"What do you have there, Verg?" Dante asked his elder twin. He pecked his frozen arm with the hilt of his sword. Pieces of ice of various sizes rained onto the floor, breaking into yet smaller pieces due to the impact. Where the ice broke off regenerated into larger chunks. It would probably been better if he hadn't tried, because he ended up with a heavier arm and shivering slightly.

Instead of answering him, Vergil held up his left hand. Petrifaction was taking place on him, just like the ice on Dante. "It's a curse demon," said Vergil. He could feel his arm getting heavier by the second. No longer could he move the parts of his arm below his wrist. It was not affecting him in fighting yet but he was sure if he didn't do something soon things would not look good for them.

Raton was moving speedily between the three of them as if he was toying with them. Its movements looked like blurs to the twins. They swung their swords every time he came close to them but the demon was always faster. Dante took a glance at Mia. She somehow dragged herself to Rei by half crawling.

To Mia's dismay, Rei was placed in a glass dungeon just like the other mannequins. She didn't notice until she got close. Her twin did not appear to be injured. Rei's black hair fell on her shoulders in a similar fashion as Mia. She would have looked like she was sleeping soundly, only that she didn't appear to be breathing. With her fists, Mia banged on the glass desperately, hoping doing that would wake up Rei from her slumber.

"It's no use," Raton said, who suddenly appeared beside her.

"What have you done to Rei?" asked Mia, livid. She rounded her hands into fists and aimed for the demon's face. "It was you who kidnapped her back in the library!" She didn't actually see him but was almost certain about it.

Raton vanished to avoid Mia's punch and reappeared behind her. "Ah, you must be the girl who killed her own twin," he said.

"I didn't kill Rei!" shouted Mia, angry and aggravated. Her hands were hurting from her attempts to break the glass. "Let her go! Can't you take me instead?"

Completely ignoring Mia's reaction, Raton continued. "I saved her. I didn't want the pretty face of her to suffer wounds of any sorts. She was very kind girl who was unfortunately killed by the one she cared the most," it said. Mia winced. "I've stopped her time to preserve her beauty to eternity. She'd be a wonderful addition to my existing collection. You murdered your own twin. You are not even worthy to be cursed, to be honest." It turned to Vergil and Dante, smiling wickedly. "Not even the kiss from the prince will wake her up."

"I didn't kill Rei," repeated Mia, less loud this time. Dante thought she half sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "Rei didn't care about her own safety to save me," she admitted.

"The rat is starting to give me a headache by mumbling to itself," said Dante. He aimed for the demon and threw Rebellion towards it like a huge dart. Upon hearing the sword piercing through the air behind it, Raton moved away in a relax manner as though the sword move by centimeters per second. With Raton no longer at where it was, Rebellion flew towards Mia. Dante wanted to kick himself for not thinking before acting. "Move out of the way!" he yelled urgently.

Mia moved her head away swiftly for Rebellion to narrowly miss. However, the sword was thrown with considerable force so it pierced into the stony wall behind. Half of the sword went in. "I'd appreciate it if you don't do that again!" she said sarcastically.

Dante didn't have time to reply her. He barely dodged Vergil's blade in time. Apparently, Raton lured Vergil towards Dante and then suddenly disappear out of sight. Vergil was too immersed in the fight to notice the demon's evil scheme.

"Can I say what she said to me to you?" Dante said to his twin brother.

"Not now," Vergil replied, looking around for their enemy.

It was Dante who spot it. Raton was crouching on top of one of the mannequin containers. Dante reached behind for his guns but was reminded he couldn't use his left hand. He groaned. If he couldn't fire Ebony and Ivory one after the other, he couldn't use them. As fast as he could, Dante went to get Rebellion, which was still pierced into the wall. Quite unexpectedly, he shivered. Dante looked at himself. The ice had covered his entire left arm and was freezing the left half his upper body. Humans under the same condition would without a doubt be shivering uncontrollably by that point. But the demon blood in Dante put up a fair resistance. Nonetheless, he could no longer feel his left arm anymore. It was totally numb by the coldness of the ice.

Raton disappeared from where he was standing to evade the razor sharp Yamato. Dante struck where he thought the demon would appear next after Vergil's attempt but he missed. Vergil's movement was clearly getting slower. They both knew if they don't end the fight quickly they were as good as gone.

"How are the statues of the Sparda boys going?" said Raton. "Good, good, well on their way. Will definitely be done when I return," he smiled in satisfaction when he saw them. The way he smiled was very unpleasant; his face wrinkled all over and scrunched up in an ugly way.

"Uh-ah, you're not going to play dress up on us!" said Dante, running over to Raton. He could tell he was going to flee.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Mia. A barrier was raised and embraced the entire room like a gigantic net, sealing all exits. She had taken off the charm that suppressed her barrier manipulating power. The strands of light that made up the barrier were blue and radiating brightly.

While Raton was distracted, Dante used the chance to break open the glass container with the metal hilt of Rebellion. He was glad the glass didn't form back like the ice on his arm did. He put his sword back so he could carry Rei out with only one arm movable. Little white objects fell off her shiny hair. On a closer look, Dante realised those were little flowers Raton put into her hair. It made him feel sick just thinking the demon had treated Rei like a doll.

"Don't touch my figurine!" Raton roared with rage when he saw Dante removed her from the container. Apparently it hated others to disturb anything in its collection. He lunged towards Dante in fury. At that moment, Vergil could see his target very clear, perhaps because it was distracted. It had its back on him Vergil swung his sword in a way faster than naked eyes could follow, and cut Raton into half.

Black blood spilled all over the floor. Raton's upper body was still moving but lower body was motionless. Mia watched in horror while Raton's upper half of the body flipped and twisted in its own blood, shrieking in agony whilst doing so. "How dare you…!" it snarled at Vergil.

Vergil felt the weigh on him increased drastically. He dropped on one knee involuntarily. His entire left arm had turned into stone. "Kill it, Dante, before it can cast the dying curse!" Vergil shouted to his twin, who was closer to Raton.

Dante put down Rei and gave her to Mia. He then thrust Rebellion into Raton's head. Mia felt a cold chill ran down her spine when her eyes met the bulging red eyes of the dying curse demon. "It's too late," it hissed to her. Though totally unaware of how gruesome its current state was, Raton seemed satisfied, though neither of Vergil, Dante or Mia took it as a good sign. "Your twin sister will never wake up as long as you live." Its bloodshot eyes rolled back to his head and Raton stopped moving.

Dante watched as the thick layer of ice on him dissolved into thin air. Vergil was able to stand up again now he was not longer half petrified. Mia felt strength returned to her feet once again. "Rei," she shook Rei gently. Dante felt sorry for her. It hadn't occurred to her what Raton's last words meant.

"It's no use. The curse demon cast the dying curse on her. It's a curse that is meant to last after the caster's death," said Vergil.

"You mean, Rei is not going to wake up until Mia dies someday?" asked Dante. He received silence as a reply. Vergil was staring down at Mia. Mia was staring at Rei's face.

"Go on," Mia said, lifting up her head for her eyes to meet Vergil's. "The only way for you to know what happened to your mother nine years ago is to end my life," she said calmly. There weren't any traces of doubt in her fearless green eyes. Rather the opposite, she sounded more resolute than ever. Many might think one was foolish to ask for death. However, Vergil found it quite admirable.

Dante could no longer kept silent. He didn't like the way that they were falling apart, distrusting each other and threatening each other. "Can this be the last time you two say anything about killing each other off?"

Dante bent down to feel Rei's cheek. Her skin was smooth but cold. He wasn't sure whether it was because he almost turned into an ice statue just moments ago. Suddenly he became alert when he felt movement behind him that didn't belonged to any of his companions. Mia was staring ahead with a hand clamped over her mouth, utterly terrified. Raton's dead body began to rise and floated into the air by an invisible force. It halted in midair and just hangs there. Black blood was dripping down like thick ink. Slowly, its thin arm raised and pointed out the only window in the room. Although stunned by what he was witnessing, Dante's eyes followed the direction the corpse pointed. He scanned wildly for anything that stood out. A faint blue glow was sighted on top of the North Tower.

Dante raised an eyebrow to Vergil. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"I'm not so sure, since all you ever think of is food," replied the elder twin. It made Dante felt a little relieved to hear that from Vergil. He understood how desperate Vergil was to find out about what actually happened to their mother. Also, he knew very well that sometimes, Vergil would do anything to get what he wanted.

Dante could tell Vergil knew what he was talking about. "If it's that, it can probably save Rei," said Dante, disregarding the sarcastic reply.

"That must be it," said Vergil firmly, who saw the same thing as Dante.

"I have to admit I don't know telepathy like you two do," asked Mia when she finally recovered from the shock. "What is 'it'?"

"We'll fill you in later, but now we need to go over there," said Dante, pointing at the dark and eerie bell tower.

* * *

Author's note: No I'm not dead! And, I'm still writing this fic. Thank you for your patience. Does anyone feel I'm dragging the story too long?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

* * *

On the way to the North Tower, they encountered surprisingly few demons. To Dante, it usually meant something bad was going to happen soon. The North Tower stood grandly on the edge of the stone castle close to the land. It was only slightly lower than the West Tower that resided on the edge close to the sea. The rain had stopped, though echoes of thunder could still be heard. 

"I can see the words 'This is a trap' written all over that place," said Mia. "It is so obvious that someone wants us there even three year olds can work it out."

"Do you –" Vergil was just about to begin.

"No, I don't have a better suggestion. I don't have any objections either," said Mia dully. "I think I can get used to walking into traps after all." She wished her twin there to suggest another way around it. At the thought, she took a glance at her twin, whom was being carried on Dante's back. Rei didn't look alive or dead. When they last checked her, her heart wasn't beating and she had no warmth. Mia hoped what her half-human half-demon friends' said was true, that there was still a chance to save her twin.

Dante had been hearing a buzzing noise ever since they left the room of mannequins. He looked around him but found nothing.

"Dante, what are you looking for?" asked Mia, mildly interested in his strange behaviour. It was the third time she saw him do it. Vergil, too, gave him a questioning look.

Ever since they found out Rei had been cursed, Mia had been awfully quiet. She didn't talk and joke with him like she would normally. He didn't blame her about being upset. Dante was glad the opportunity came. "Direction signs," Dante answered. "I've been trying to hide it but I'm actually quite desperate for the bathroom right now. If you see one, don't forget to tell me." His effort was not wasted. Mia chuckled at his words.

"You too right Verg?" asked Dante.

"You want me to kick your ass that bad?" Vergil replied impatiently.

Dante shrugged and looked at Mia. "He gets a bit edgy when this happens," he said. It made Mia laugh but not for long. The happiness disappeared from her face very quickly. Mia gave him a small smiled for his attempt to lighten the atmosphere a little. She was unaware his looking around wasn't part of the joke.

The castle was so huge they were almost lost in the identical-looking corridors a few times. Every time when they were about to wander away, Vergil pointed out the correct path to steer them back on track. The item they were after was located on the top of the tower. Dante looked up towards the top of the tower when they arrived at an entrance. It was fairly high and warranted a long walk to the top. He estimated it was at least ten storeys high. Several Hell-sins ambushed them as soon as they entered. The demons were quickly taken cared by Vergil. Though the tower was tall, it was not very spacious inside. It was very plain with few features. In fact, all Dante could see was a continuous spiral staircase that presumably led to the top. Vergil, Dante and Mia were half expecting something will come about while they ascend. They stayed on their guards the entire time. It was almost a disappointment when nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Dante felt sweat forming on his face. He had been carrying Rei for a while and walking in the same pace as the others. The demon blood inside him unfortunately didn't keep him from being tired. He took a look at her, who he was carrying in a piggyback manner. Her face rested on one side of his shoulder. There were some small white flowers remained in her hair thanks to Raton that they had not the time to get rid of. She looked very pretty in her sleep. He wondered when he would see her smile again.

Mia must have seen him looking at her twin sister. "Let's switch, you've been carrying her for ages," she asked Dante. "She's pretty heavy isn't she?" She had nothing with her and even her sleeves were torn. She could only wipe away some of the sweat on his face with the back of her hand.

"She's not that bad," said Dante. "Anyway I think we're nearly there."

He wasn't wrong. They emerged at the top of the tower soon after. A large bell occupied most of the space, making it difficult for the three to stand together. There was a little attic that protected the bell from rain. Four narrow pillars supported the roof. On top of the bell was what they were looking for: Holy Water in its usual clear round bottle. The bottle was blue in colour and because the liquid inside was self-radiant. It was releasing a beautiful blue glow. Holy Water can destroy nearly all evil. Dante believed if that doesn't safe Rei, nothing would.

"Here they come," warned Vergil. Dante saw flocks of blood-goyles flying towards them from several directions. He placed Rei under the huge bell and drew out Ebony and Ivory. "Go get the Holy Water," said Dante to Mia. "We'll fan off these small fries." Mia nodded in response. As soon as the nearest Blood-Goyle came into range, Dante opened fire. The Blood-Goyles that were shot by Dante turned into stone and fell to the ground. Vergil cleared the ones that landed on the tower top. Dante tried to see how Mia was doing whenever he had free moments. She clearly wasn't a professional at climbing on big metal bells and slid back down a few times. Then again it wasn't easy to climb on the top of something which surface was so smooth. The next time he glanced back, she was reaching out the best she could. Her finger was almost touching the bottle.

Without warnings, the ground shook viciously. _I knew it!_ Dante thought. He would have said it out aloud if he weren't busy regaining balance to prevent himself from falling off the edge of the tower. He had expected the Holy Water to be a lure. It was glaringly obvious. Someone was behind all this, enjoying toying with them. There just wasn't any choice. He put his guns back into the hoisters where they belong so he could free his hands. The ground where he was standing split into halves. One half broke off, falling to the ground below. The second half was cracking into smaller bits. The entire tower was collapsing. Dante didn't know the tower bell was also gone until a loud echoing sound hit his ears. His eyes scanned for Vergil and the twin girls.

Some remaining Blood-Goyles continued to assault Dante. He shot down a few but some managed to slam their blood-red bodies on him. The noise he was hearing grew louder. It was no longer a buzzing sound. It was as loud as someone talking directly to him. He could hear voices of people he didn't recognise. Some of them were crying, some were yelling, some were calling and some were hissing.

"Dante!" Dante heard Mia's voice from below. He saw Mia hanging onto a part of what was remained of the tower with one hand. She was holding the Holy Water in the other. She was about 3 arms' length away from him. "Have you seen Rei?" she asked anxiously. She winced as a couple of Blood-Goyles pecked her arms and back. She held the Holy Water tightly and drew it even closer to her. Ignoring the ones circling around him for the moment, Dante downed the ones near her.

It reminded Dante it was possible Rei had fallen off when he wasn't looking. His eyes scanned around desperately. He found her lying on the piece of floor where he put her. It appeared to be the last piece that remained intact with the tower. As it was breaking apart, Rei's was beginning to slide down. Dante looked back at Mia. He could tell she was trying not to show it but she was having a hard time holding on with only one arm available. She still didn't know where Rei was yet. Both girls were about the same distance away from him. They would fall and land as a mess of flesh if he didn't do something. Time was running out. He could only save one.

"Save Rei!" Dante heard Mia called out to him. She must have spotted her twin and realised his situation. Mia wasn't hesitating. He was. _Just where the hell is Vergil?_ He thought in frustration. Logically, he should save Mia. She was definitely alive whereas he didn't know if they could really save Rei. Dante didn't want to give up on either of them.

Mia beautiful green eyes were pleading. Clenching his teeth, Dante carefully moved himself towards Rei like a rock climber. He caught her the moment she slid off the tower. Their combined weight was too great for Dante to manage. Like a large rock both of them plummeted towards the earth.

Mia watched Dante and her twin sister melt into the darkness. She couldn't tell where they landed, or whether they landed in two whole pieces. _Please, be safe_, she prayed silently, though she never believed in God. _Come on Mia_, she said to herself in the head. _You've got more important matters to attend to right now_. Never in her life had she felt so tired. Her right arm felt like it was dead. There was nothing she could step on to ease the strain on the one arm. Her palm slid off the small chuck of cement-like stone, which was what the entire structure was made of, she was holding; then her thumb; then her ring finger. "Damnit," Mia said to no one. She couldn't hold on any longer. Suddenly she wondered where Vergil was. Perhaps he fell off somewhere when she was too busy to notice. It made her feels weird to have him as the last thing she thinks about before she dies.

Unwillingly, her last finger let go. Funny that she wasn't plunging down like she expected. Someone caught by her wrist. To her amazement, above her, Vergil was clinging on like she was moments ago. Vergil was at the other side of the tower when it began to collapse. He saw Dante and Rei fell down but was too far to be able to help. It was pure luck that he made it to Mia in time. She was clearly stunned to see him there

"Most girls will cry for help when their life is threatened," Vergil remarked, "They don't usually say damnit."

"Well," Mia finally found her words." I guess I'm not an ordinary girl."

"I can't hold on for long, we'll have to jump sooner or later," Vergil said. He ruled out the possibility of convincing Mia to throw away the Holy Water. She could have freed out her left hand to save herself but she didn't. She didn't let go of it even if it meant costing her life.

"Watch out!" Mia yelled. "Behind you – Blood-Goyles!" Vergil turned around face the flying demons. He couldn't free up a hand to handle them unless he drops Mia. The surprise assault caused his grip on the tower to slip. They slid down a few meters before Vergil halted their fall by catching something else.

"Let go of me," Mia demanded. Her hand was growing numb from the lack of circulation of blood. His grip was tight. Though it wasn't the reason she wanted him to let go of her.

Vergil heard her. He didn't say anything. His decision was made.

"You brothers are so stubborn," Mia said with a small sigh. She wasn't mad at him. Actually she felt quite the opposite. Without warning, Vergil let go of the chunck of stone they weredepending on. "What..." Mia began. She didn't understand. Something was wrong. Vergil didn't let go on purpose. She saw his right arm suddenly went stiff, causing him to release the hold unwillingly. Before she could say more, they were diving into darkness.

* * *

Author's note: I amazed even myself to come back to this fanfic. For a long time I wasn't motivated or inspired at all. You know, you just can force yourself to write. So I took a good long break. I tried uploading this chapter for the entire night but just didn't like it for some reason. Wonderful isn't it? It has to happen on the night I try to upload. I really need a backup website.

Thanks for those who are patient enough to wait for new chapters (anyone?). Please do leave comments after reading. I tend to write faster when I get reviews.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

* * *

Landing down from more than thirty meters wasn't exactly to be called smooth to Dante. Pain surged from his foot up to his calves upon the impact with the ground. Normally if someone had fallen from that height they would be extremely lucky to leave with two broken legs. The ground surface where he landed on concaved as though it received a small-scale meteorite hit. He was holding onto Rei with both arms, who still remained motionless. Quickly, Dante scanned his surroundings to see what kind of location they were in. Every direction he looked, complete whiteness was all he could see. 

They were enveloped by a heavy mist. It stood out as rather unnatural, considering the stormy weather only a while ago. Sometimes, mist could be resulted from long hours of rain. However it was rare that it formed so quickly and came in such density. Visibility was very poor. Dante couldn't see more than a few meters in front of him. He decided it was wiser to stay and wait until the mist cleared, as it was dangerous to wander around in an unknown area in such condition. Moreover, he suspected it might be the enemy's doing. Not able to see anything besides the mist made Dante felt like he lost his sight. Gently, Dante put Rei on the ground. He took off his jacket and popped it under her head as a small pillow, though he was unsure if she could feel anything at all. He then sat beside her. He remembered seeing an image of her unconscious form exactly liked what he was seeing now, back when he was walking up the stairs of the future. Was everything he saw going to become reality?

The noises he had been hearing were nowhere near leaving him. The voices were there all the time. The voices were not talking to him; rather it was like he was hearing random phrases in others' conversations. It seemed never ending. The voices changed sometimes, it weren't the same voices all the time. To make it worse, other noises began to join in like a torture symphony. Sometimes he could hear random sounds produced by things such as tyre screeching, or hammer hitting on nails, or roadwork construction.

"_Stop it!" a woman's voice called out._

"_Please!" the voice of a young boy begged._

"_Give me another chance," an old man demanded._

"_I'm sorry, I only wanted to…" a girl sobbed._

"_I told you to leave me alone!" a man shouted._

"_They don't care anymore," an old lady sighed deeply._

Dante smacked his forehead, though not entirely hopeful that would help. In frustration, he covered his ears. The voices made him felt like he lost another one of his five senses. He couldn't trust what he heard anymore. It was driving him crazy. For a couple of times, he thought he heard Trish's voice. He could distinct between Trish and his mother Eva because she said things Eva would never say.

At the corner of his eyes, Dante noticed Rei's eyelids fluttered. Her chest was slowly but surely raising up and down once again. She was stirring awake. A cold feeling washed over him. If Rei was waking, did that mean Mia died? If she did, she was either killed by the big fall, or murdered by someone. Dante could only hope Vergil was not stupid enough to have anything to do with any of it. He couldn't completely rule out the possibility, especially when he understood how much Vergil wanted to revenge for their mother. His twin was the type of person who could do anything to do what he wanted.

Rei's eyes opened and were focusing on him. She looked like she was about to say something.

"She'll say _his_ name, not yours," Trish voice hissed in his head, mixed amongst other noises. "Because she likes him, not you."

Dante knew Vergil somewhat liked Rei, no matter how much he refused to admit. He figured out she liked his twin too. Dante half-held his breath, waiting for her to mistaken him as his mirror image.

"Dante?" Rei said softly, still sounded half awake. Dante felt slightly relieved when he didn't hear what he expected. He helped Rei pulled herself up from where she laid.

"How are you feeling?" Dante asked her.

"My head feels like it's twice as heavy as it should be," Rei answered, shaking her head in attempt to clear the fogginess. She froze momentarily as memories came flooding back into her. "Where's Mia? And Vergil?" she asked him anxiously. "What is this place? Why am I wearing…this?" she asked more questions, looking confused and perplexed.

Unsure of what to tell her, Dante asked her back. "What was the last thing you remembered?" What could he say to her? That her twin sister might be dead and the person who killed her might be his twin brother?

"The last thing I remember was…" Rei began to recall her memories. It wasn't something she wanted to be reminded. "I had an argument with Mia. I didn't know how it happened but a chandelier came loose and was going to fall on top of us. I pushed Mia away and then…I couldn't remember what happened after that," she said solemnly.

Dante spun back to look behind him. He thought he heard someone call him a moment ago.

Looking in the same direction, Rei found no one. "What's wrong?" she asked. Dante continued to stare in that direction. "Dante?" she asked again, now worried.

"Ah," Dante stammered, realizing she was talking to him. The noises in his head had become so loud that they drowned her voice. "What did you say?" Before he received an answer, the dark-hair girl stood up abruptly.

Using Rebellion as support, Dante, too, was back on his feet. "Um, what did I just miss out? Not free shampoo sample I hope?"

The way Dante could joke anywhere at anytime somehow always managed to surprise Rei. "I'd like to tell you you're close but no," she replied. "I saw someone just walked by and went that way. Come on!" Having said that, she ran into the thick mist.

"Oh man," Dante grumbled. The elder twin sister he knew of should understand the danger of their current situation. Her action was more reckless than usual. He wondered what caused her to run off in such a hurry. Blindly, Dante followed where he thought she went, hoping she ran in a straight line at the same time. The instant Dante found her, he skidded to a stop. He was close to trampling over her.

When Dante focused, he realised his fear came true. Rei was kneeing beside an injured Mia. He couldn't see clearly because Rei was blocking his view, though he was sure she was hurt on the chest. The ground the younger twin sister laid was bright red – soaked in blood. Rei tried to stop the bleeding by pressing onto her wound. She couldn't do it very well because her hands were trembling terribly.

"Mia! Mia!" Rei called her unconscious twin frantically. Her hand was covered in the sticky red liquid that was Mia's source of life. She remembered seeing this exact same scene when she took the steps on the stairs of future.

Mia's eyes slowly opened. Her face was pale. "Sis," she responded with a half-smiled.

"Mia, what happened? Who did this to you?" Rei asked urgently.

"Rei," Mia said, lifting up her hand for Rei's. Rei reached out her free hand and squeezed Mia's. "I'm sorry about what I said before," the younger twin said. She paused for breath. "I know you didn't tell me about what really happened to mum for my own good. I'm really sorry for yelling at you like that."

"I wasn't angry at you," Rei said, her eyes reddening. Shaking her head, she continued, "No, I shouldn't have hide it from you. I didn't know you would be so upset that I did. I'm sorry." She noticed Mia was loosening the hold on her hand. Her eyes widened with fright – it couldn't be happening.

Mia's breaths were slowing down at an awfully fast rate. "Sis," she said with considerable effort, struggling for breath. "Be careful…of Vergil." All of her movement ceased after those last words.

_No_, Rei stared at the face that was same as hers in disbelief. Why did it happen so suddenly? Was it all a bad dream? Why would Vergil do such a thing? Why? She wanted to scream but she lost her voice.

Dante could hardly believe what he saw. He didn't trust his ears, but he definitely saw Mia mouthed Vergil's name. Also, it didn't make sense to him. Mia should have been dead before Rei could wake up, and yet… Rei was still kneeing beside Mia's body, stiff as a stone. Now that he could see clearly, Mia appeared to be pierced through by a sharp object on the chest. If it was a cut from Yamato, it would fit perfectly. Unsure of what to do, Dante put a hand on her shoulder.

"Vergil," Dante heard her mutter at the same moment. Knocking his hand off her shoulder, she marched into the mist again.

"Wait a minute-" Dante grabbed Rei upper arm. Her pretty face darkened like clear sky covered by storm clouds.

"Let go of me Dante!" Rei demanded loudly. She attempted to shake off his grip. It turned to be a useless effort. Every cell in her body was burning with anger.

"Listen to me," Dante was surprised by how strong she was. He had never heard her raising her voice until then. Was it a power driven by rage? "Vergil couldn't have done that!" he said.

"I don't want to believe either! But you heard didn't you?" Rei's whole body was shaking in anger. "He killed my only sister!" She was still struggling to free herself from Dante.

Rei was struggling with all her might. The wrath in her was the source of her newfound strength. Dante knew he couldn't hold her back like this for much longer. With no choice left, he put his arm around her.

"What are you doing? Let go!" Rei tried to push herself away. How dared he embraced her? Part of her knew it was silly to be throwing her anger on Dante. He was only trying to talk to her. Part of her was so enraged she didn't want to be reasoned. She didn't want to be touched by the brother of the man who murdered her twin.

"It's ok," Dante said. "It's not true." He held her to him while she kicked and punched. "Everything we're seeing is an illusion."

_Illusion?_ Rei blinked. "Impossible. I could see her, hear her and touch her. Can't you see Mia? She's lying back there and she's not-" _Breathing_, she finished off silently. She couldn't bring herself to say it. "How can you say it's all fake?"

"Ever since I got here, I found this place strange," Dante began to explain. "All the things we have been experiencing are illusions. Vergil will never kill Mia. Never."

"You really trust him," Rei said. She thought she did too. She wished she still could; but no, not after what she saw and heard.

"If I don't trust him, no one will," said Dante gravely. He finally understood. He had to trust his twin brother. He just had to. "So trust me," his cool blue eyes looked into her pale green ones.

Tears welled in Rei's eyes. The last thing she wanted to believe was that Mai's death was true. Even so, it was horribly realistic. How can anyone believe it was all an imagination? Still, she wanted to cling onto that belief. If she didn't, she was afraid she would shatter into pieces like a dropped plate.

Rei nodded at Dante, tears rolled down her cheek. "I…trust you." Dante stroked her smooth dark hair.

"Are you an illusion too?" Rei asked, confused at her own feelings. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Well," Dante smiled. "I don't think so."

Feeling much more calm than she was previously, Rei closed her eyes. For that moment, she just wanted to be held by him forever.

* * *

Author's note: The last chapter was full of mistakes because I uploaded the wrong version of my file. I've now corrected it. Please don't forget to review 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

* * *

Mia's eyes opened to see a cloudy night sky. The hard stone surface where she lay felt cold to her skin. 

"So you awoke?" A voice came from behind. She turned and saw Vergil, sitting on a large piece of stone that was part of the winding stairway of the fallen tower. They were back on solid ground. Everywhere near them was covered in ruins. They were in a courtyard of some sort within the castle. Unkempt hedges that grew wildly within the courtyard were plastered with all sorts of debris. Besides the particular area they were at, the castle still stood as majestically as ever. It appeared that the tower was the only part that was destroyed.

With her hands, Mia slapped her cheeks lightly to help clear her mind. She couldn't remember what happened after Vergil let go of both of them, though she recalled undoubtedly that something was strange with him. "Are you ok?" she asked Vergil. "What happened to your arm?"

"Are you worried about me?" Vergil smirked. He didn't think she noticed.

"You…you wish" Mia stammered. She crossed her arms and turned away, pretending to be angry.

Vergil saw her peek back at him but quickly looked away as soon as she realised he was looking at her as well. He could see that she was genuinely concerned about him. That wasn't what he wanted. Years ago, he had decided not to have connections with anyone except Dante. Every person he knew who was in some way associated with demons ends up suffering misfortune. None had happy endings. "Rather that worrying about me, I think you should worry about that first," he pointed at the broken bottle of Holy Water he placed next to him. Mia couldn't believe her eyes when she saw it. She dashed forward and picked it up.

"No this can't be," Mia despaired, shaking her head in disbelief. The side of the bottle was fractured. There was only half a bottle of the precious liquid left. She imagined it must have broken when they hit the ground. She couldn't save Rei with only half the amount.

Vergil stared at Mia, who was angry and on the verge of tears. He could easily tell she was blaming at herself for not able to protect the bottle. She was mad that their effort was wasted because of her. She wasn't the type of girl who cries once every so often, like Rei. He couldn't blame her. Snatching the broken bottle from her grasp, he poured the remaining contents on her.

Being unguarded, Mia was instantly wet from head to shoulder. As Vergil expected, she was quite angry. "What are you doing?" she glared at him, fuming.

"Haven't you figured out by now? It was you who were cursed, not Rei," Vergil said coolly. His expression remained unchanged.

"Me?" Mia asked. She shoved the anger aside for the moment and tried to work out what he was saying. "Why would that be? Why didn't it just directly curse Rei?" she asked, feeling a bit stupid to be asking such a question when she knew he would give her a good answer.

Vergil almost chuckled. Keeping a straight face, he continued. "That rat demon was trying to fool us. He knew you would think Rei is the one who was cursed. It was natural and sensible to do as you have said - to curse the intended target. But think about it, Raton's ultimate aim wasn't to kill your sister; it was for vengeance. It wanted to make us suffer because we managed to kill it. It wanted us to waste the Holy Water on Rei and then find out we've got it all wrong."

"That's so ridiculous and stupid. It knew it wouldn't be able to live pass the day to see the revenge take place, yet it still…" Mia trailed off, though impressed by his logical reasoning. It gave her the creeps what hatred could do to people. "Are you saying Rei wasn't cursed to begin with?"

Vergil shook his head. "No, I believe she was when we found her. Curses cast by demons usually dispels automatically when it is defeated. It was the precise moment before its death that it can cast a dying curse. It is rare for any curse demons to get the timing right, you can say we were unlucky."

Mia pondered on the reasoning. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Vergil picked up a stone from the debris scattered all around the ground. "I thought you would've worked that out," he said. "By the way, we have a guest." While he spoke, he threw the stone straight into the shadows. The stone hit something and produced a noise that sounded like it hit something soft like flesh, not like it hit a hard surface.

A figure immerged from behind ruins that were once the round outer wall of the fallen tower. The figure turned its back on them and began to run away. Due to the lack of light, the face of that figure could not be identified.

"Who's there?" Mia called and began running after the mysterious figure.

For a fraction of a second, Vergil thought that he saw a shocked expression on her face when she saw the eavesdropper. Not letting Mia out of his sight, he followed her closely. He had a fair idea who the mysterious figure might be. There couldn't be many people who were interested in them and knew they were there. For a start, it couldn't be Trish. The person running away didn't want to them to see his face. If Trish wanted them to follow her, she could use all sorts of methods. She didn't need to hide her identity.

The figure's movement was fast. Soon they were led into a thick hedge garden. The hedges were dense and together with the vast number of trees nearby, it seemed that little sunlight could penetrate through even in midday. It was a natural maze. Normally, Vergil would beat Mia when it came to running. The narrow pathway and low visibility made it impossible for him to overtake her. The figure they were chasing was not only fast; it was also cunning. It seemed to know the landscape well. It made left and right turns so quickly and frequently that if the pursuers did not concentrate all their attention, they could loose his trail easily.

After a quick left turn, Vergil saw an opened door ahead. The figure had entered the castle. Mia had already followed suit. They found themselves inside the bottommost floor of the castle. Though Vergil didn't have much time to examine closely, it looked like they were running through vacant rooms that were used as storage area back when the castle was still in use. Eventually, he saw a closed door ahead of them. Mia hastily opened it. Vergil noticed faint carvings around the edge of the door. The carving was made up of strange patterns. Vergil remembered seeing those patterns in one of the books he read about ancient seals and traps.

"Don't go in!" Vergil shouted the warning. At the same time, he reached out in attempt to pull her back. It was too late. His companion had entered the room in front of them and the door shut behind her with a bang. It was almost like the castle came alive and sucked her in like a vacuum. Without a choice, Vergil turned the knob and entered the same room, while seriously considering giving a lecture to that girl who leapt before she thought more than once.

The moment he was inside, he was just in time to see another door at the opposite end close. The outline of the door glowed brightly and dissolved without a trace. "Rune!" Mia cried, slamming her fist against where it was.

"Your cousin again?" Vergil asked, walking up to her. Running a hand through her long straight hair, Mia nodded in misery. Vergil sank in his own thoughts. His predictions were correct; the uncanny cousin of Rei and Mia was somehow involved. He shook away the thoughts. It wasn't the time. Their priority was to leave the suspicious room they were allured into. He looked back to where he entered. Somehow it didn't surprise him very much to see their entrance gone. With four solid walls around them, they were well and truly locked in.

Leaning against the stone wall, Mia sank to the floor, her long hair brushing against the rough surface as she did so. It was her fault again. She had got them trapped inside another odd part of the castle. She didn't understand - why couldn't she do anything right? Mia thought to herself miserably.

Vergil took a good look at the room they were inside. It was not spacious, but fairly empty. A black rectangular-shaped wooden cupboard covered all three sides of the room except one. It was an unusual piece of furniture. The cupboard consisted of hundreds and perhaps up to a thousand small drawers. Besides that, something was written on the floor in the center of the room. He glanced over to Mia, who leant against the only bare stone wall. She wasn't in good shape. The light in her eyes he saw earlier in the evening had vanished. She was always energetic and full of life – even when she was arguing with him. The Mia in front of him looked tired and depressed.

"Why do you think you cousin is here?" Vergil asked her. When he first encountered Rune, he heard a little about him from Rei. Though there were other things he also wanted to know about the man who caused them so much trouble a year ago.

Mia lifted her head up. "I'm not sure," she said, looking at Vergil with a weary expression. "I don't know if Rei had told you or not. My uncle was the only person from my mother's family who didn't hate Rei and I with a passion. He was a nice person, my uncle. But as we can see, nice people don't always have nice sons and daughters," she removed her gaze from him and stared into the empty space above her head. "I can only say he had been a strange person ever since he was a child. He was always doing this other people wouldn't. As with his power, I have no idea. I'm positive that he didn't have any powers to begin with. Only Rei and I did. He disappeared a few years ago and the last time we saw him, he could vanish and stand in midair and stuff like that," she shrugged.

From the way she spoke, it didn't sound like Mia hated her cousin to Vergil. Judging from the fact she had few relatives, she should have valued Rune.

Turning her head to give him a sideway look, Mia suddenly asked. "Why are you here?"

Silence penetrated the space between them. Everything in the room was quiet and still. Air seemed to have stopped its flow for them. It was as though time had stopped. Mia laughed at herself mentally. The day Vergil would tell her about what he was thinking was the day elephants would start flying. _If I was Rei, he might've already told her_, she thought, though didn't understand why the thought brought along sourness.

"Ten years ago," Vergil began, giving Mia a surprise. "Dante and I return home and found our mother murdered. She died in a horrible way. It was like she was ripped apart. We knew it was not something that could be done by humans." As he spoke, he went to the middle of the room and squatted down to examine the engraved text. "Of course, the police would never believe us if we said our mother was murdered by demons. For years I searched for the real murderer. I was never able to find any clues, until today, when _that woman_ showed up."

Mia knew he was referring to Trish. She wondered why Vergil used 'I' when he was saying about the search for Eva's killer. Did that meant Dante didn't actually do any searching? If so, it puzzled her more - why didn't he?

"She is a demon dressed in the image of my mother. If someone was able to create a carbon copy of her, I figured that it meant that someone had met or at least seen her before. There was a possibility that I could find out the murderer from her."

After hearing his story, Mia felt guilty of acting the way she did. She didn't understand anything at all, yet she selfishly followed him and caused other people troubles as well. "I…" she didn't know how to begin. Then it occurred to her that she might be able to help him – even if only a little. "I don't know what Rei knows that you want to find out from her. But I can tell you what I know." That caught Vergil's attention. He removed his gaze from the engraved text and concentrated on listening to her.

Due to its location, the temperature in the room was quite low comparing to outside. The chilly air didn't bother Vergil as much as it did to Mia. She brought her knees to her chest then wrapped her arms them to keep herself warmer. "Ten years ago, Rei and I were eight years old. I usually came home with Rei but I got held back at school." Mia didn't look at Vergil as she spoke. "I thought she would be home when I get back, but it turned out that she came home later than me. When she did eventually return, she looked terrible. She looked traumatised, like she'd been through a couple of funerals. I asked her where she had gone. She told me she met Ms Eva on her way home. Then she mentioned something about not being able to help her and being helpless." She paused briefly to look at Vergil. His handsome face revealed nothing. "I didn't know what she was talking about. Then she started crying. I was shocked. Rei never cries. Rei always like to act tough as the elder twin. I have only seen her cry once and it was that time. I guess it was too much of a shock for me to see Rei cry. I didn't ask her about what happened ever again."

Having listened to her recount carefully, Vergil sank into deep thought. If what Mia said was true, Rei didn't sound like the killer. However it suggested to him that she probably met Eva on the day she died. Somehow, Vergil knew Rei held very important information that will give him the answer he was looking for.

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Author's note: Quite a chatty chapter this is. I think it's time for some things to get explained. If you're familiar with the game, you'll noticed I changed Eva's death. Well, this is alternate universe after all. 

I'd like to give a big thank to my friend who checked it for me. You know who you are Thanks to him you readers don't need to read a chapter full of grammar and spelling mistakes! Also thanks for those who continue to review my story for me. It means a lot to me.

Please review this chapter, even a short comment would be greatly appreciated.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

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Vergil thought over what Mia told him. It soon became obvious that no matter how much he wanted to know what actually happened, who murdered Eva; he couldn't until they find a way out of the room they were trapped in. His attention focused back to the part of the ground where faint words were craved. Two simple sentences were written, it read: "Light brings the truth. Darkness brings lies." Like a detective, he looked around his surrounding, scanning the area thoroughly without missing the tiniest detail. The words could not be referring anything else other than the dark shelves. "There's still something I don't understand," Mia spoke up after piecing together the information in her head. "If I was the cursed one, why didn't I go unconscious instead?" 

"I think it works if the curse in some way relates both of you," Vergil replied, holding back the irritation caused by all the explanation he had to go through. Normally he wouldn't be so agitated. But all he wanted to was to get out of the room and talk to Rei. "The spell was something like: As long as you live, Rei will be in an eternal sleep. Technically, it could curse either of you." His cool glance shifted back to the puzzle the instant he finished talking.

"Thank you," Mia said in a small voice, realising her own clumsiness. She blushed a little for not being willing to thank him until then. As she expected, he didn't say anything back. Her irritation began to boil up at his lack of response, but she fought to push it out of her mind. "What is this?" she asked, crouching down next to him. She read the words on the floor and frowned. "Not another puzzle I hope."

"You may want to bet on that," Vergil said. He noticed her dislike in puzzles. "Your sister handles them well."

"Rei is smart," Mia said quietly. "I'm the dumb twin I guess," she shrugged and looked away, as though she didn't care. "You are a twin too so you'd know. There's always the smart one and the dumb one. Everyone can tell who the smart one is." She turned back to him and forced a smile.

Vergil felt a small sting of regret for acting impatient only a while ago. Regret was a feeling he almost never came across. He always thought through things carefully before he acted so he never needed to regret anything. Besides, she thanked him for the very first time.

"This has to mean the shelves," she pointed at the engraved words, changing their topic.

Vergil gave her a slight nod to indicate agreement. Though there were insufficient clues given, out of the hundreds of identical drawers that surrounded them, there seemed to be only one that would point them to the correct path. That was the reason he hadn't touched any. Another reason why he hadn't done so was because they gave him a bad feeling. There was no guarantee what would happen after they solve the puzzle. He certainly hoped it lead to a way out. Another thing that appeared significant was the way the clue was written. The words were not ordered like sentences found in books and other publications. They were scrambled in a way that was comprehendible yet unorderly at the same time. The two sentences were placed apart from each other. Words were separated and scattered like bricks placed on different rows on a wall.

"I wonder what happens if we picked the wrong drawer?" Mia spoke his thoughts.

"I have a feeling we may not want to find out," Vergil said and began to focus his mind on the relation between the word placement and the drawers. Mia cupped her chin in her hand, staring at the words.

Though he had a twin himself, it didn't cease to surprise Vergil how different Mia and Rei were. Unlike Rei, Mia was much more readable. Her expression told him she was thinking other things that were far from happy. It didn't matter to him before, but for some reason he thought he'd rather see her smiling.

Wanting to divert her from her thoughts, Vergil searched for another topic. "From what you've said, you have met my mother," he said to her.

Looking up to him, Mia replied. "Yes, when I was very little."

"How did you meet her?"

"It was thirteen years ago-" Mia began and stopped as soon as she did. Vergil raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh I feel like an old lady for always starting out like this," she complained, smiling at her own amusement.

Dante held Rei to him until she stopped crying. As much as he didn't want to seen as taking advantage of her while his brother wasn't present, he desperately wanted to comfort her. He had feelings for her, and so did Vergil. Partly, he was angry at Vergil for not willing to show affections to her, because he was afraid it would only bring danger to her at the end. Dante thought perhaps Vergil was right. Nonetheless, he knew in his heart, he just wanted to protect her.

When he let go of her, she was still shaken by what he believed to be an illusion. He told her about what happened from the time they were separated in the castle's gallery up until falling off the collapsing tower. It wasn't easy since he could hardly hear himself with all the voices playing in his head like an extremely unpleasant radio station. For a few times, he wasn't sure if he said what he wanted to say and ended up repeating the previous sentence. Rei gave him puzzled looks whenever he did so, but other than that she sat and listened without saying anything.

When Dante finished, Rei let out a long sigh. "So much happened while I was asleep," she looked into the mist, which cleared considerably even though they could still see nothing but whiteness. "Your brother has a motivation for wanting to kill Mia." She clenched her fist, a pained expression spread across her face.

"How do you know my mother, Eva?" Dante asked, studying her reaction.

At first, Rei hesitated. She closed her eyes and opened them again, staring straight into his. "The first time I met her was thirteen years ago. At that time, Mia and I were separated from our mother. Remember what I told you and Vergil a year ago, when we first met you?" Dante indicated he did. She continued. "My mother's family carries a mortal priestess bloodline. Traditionally, only one person in the family, a woman, will inherit that power. It is a power passed from mother to daughter. As priestess, she guards the knowledge of how to connect the human and demon world. The priestess is quite harmless really. Her power alone can't open the portal to the demon world. But it's a different story when one has twin daughters."

Dante remembered the story well. The past of the twin sisters was central to the events that occurred a year ago. Her childhood was not any happier than his was. He reached out, taking Rei's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. In return, Rei gave him a smile to indicate her appreciation.

"Twins were looked upon as omen. My maternal family believed we would some day bring destruction to this world. That's because with two of us we could open the path to the underworld. Some wanted one of us to be killed to make sure that never happens. Most wanted both of us killed just to be safe. One day, when our father wasn't home, they came and kidnapped the three of us. We were locked up in a vacant house we have never been to. My mother, Mia and I were put in different rooms of the same house."

"My relatives didn't leave us unwatched. A few people were given the duty to guard us. I could constantly hear the guard walking past the other end of the door. Again I'm not sure why they didn't kill us on the spot. My best guess is they hadn't finalised the decision on what to do with us, my uncle was especially against the idea of killing us. Then the night came. From a distance, I could hear the faint sound of Mia crying. I was too young to know what was going on. All I knew was I couldn't stay here, or bad things would happen. That was when someone sneaked into the room where I was kept. That person smashed open the window in the quietest manner. It was a lady dressed in black from top to bottom. She indicated to me she wanted me to be quiet."

Dante looked at her questioningly. "Was that…" he began.

"Yes, it was Ms Eva. Back then I didn't know, of course. I think I scared her because I didn't back away or appeared frightened when she came to me. I asked her who she was. She told me her name was Eva and she came to rescue Mia and me. The guards were overconfident. So we were able to sneak pass them without much difficulty. It wasn't hard to find where my sister was held. Basically, her constant crying led us to her. I could never forget how happy Mia was when she saw me. Ms Eva gave her a friendly hug and held her for a short while. She told us she would get us out right away. When we asked her to rescue other mother too, she fell silent. She was a beautiful person, yet at the moment her face was so sad. She shook her head apologetically. She said she came too late. Our mother was gone." Rei took a deep breath, then continued. "We were reunited with our father. From that day on, we spent our lives avoiding my mother's relatives. They hated us enough to regularly send people to hunt us down." She turned to face Dante with a soft expression. "I didn't know Ms Eva was your mother."

While Rei recounted the events, Dante had to concentrate very hard to listen. It built up to a small headache. Realised that Rei was looking at him, Dante nodded understandingly. "That's all right. There was no way you could've known. But how did my mum find out about you? How did she know you were in trouble I wonder?"

"Ms Eva said my mother was somehow able to contact her. I think my mother wanted Ms Eva rather than my dad to come save us because my dad was being watched, and Ms Eva wasn't."

As though someone turned the volume up, the voices in Dante grew much louder – it was screaming and yelling at him. A throbbing pain surged through his head. It came so suddenly it brought him on his knees.

Startled, Rei called out his name. She kneed down to observe him. "What's wrong?" she asked, confused and afraid. She put a hand on his back in attempt to comfort him as much as she could, knowing it probably did little to ease the unknown pain he was experiencing.

With his left hand, Dante held his head and supported himself with the other. He could no longer hide the noises from Rei anymore to keep her from worrying. Rei's green eyes were filled with concern, they were asking him to tell her what was happening. "It's the curse," he finally said, grimaced as another wave of pain rushed into his head.

"But," Rei staggered, perplexed. "I thought you said I was the one who was cursed?"

Before Dante had the chance to tell her he thought all four of them could be cursed, he saw a glint of silver in the mist. It looked awfully like the kind of light reflected from a sword's blade. Without thinking, he pushed Rei away from him. He rolled away himself, and drew out Rebellion from his back as he scrambled up to his feet. His head hurt like mad, but he had to ignore it. He looked up to see who the attacker was. Even before he saw the face, he had an awful feeling that he knew whom he would see in the illusion.

There was no mistake - it was Vergil.

"Oh. Hey Verg," Dante greeted weakly. Of course, he didn't believe it was really his twin. Vergil's face was stiff as stone, showing no emotion. He positioned himself in a stance, his right hand reached for the hilt of the sheathed sword. With astonishing speed, though not a speed unexpected to Dante, Vergil struck. Dante was more convinced it was an image of his twin he was fighting against. The Vergil he knew wouldn't start a fight without telling him the reason.

Being his twin, Dante was more aware than anyone how fast Vergil was, and how deadly Yamato was. He stayed clear from his brother's blade while thinking back to any weaknesses Vergil had. Not daring to take his eyes off the battle, Dante hoped Rei was staying as far from them as she could. He was only distracted for a millisecond before Vergil disappeared from his sight. Dante spun around agilely, holding Rebellion horizontally and positioned it above his head. His prediction was right. Vergil came down from the sky and the blade of the two swords of demon knight Sparda met each other, producing a high-pitched screech. Vergil pushed his blade towards Dante. Gritting his teeth, Dante pushed back just as hard. He could scarcely believe how realistic it was to him, not like Mia's "death" didn't seem real enough.

The clash of swords reminded Dante of practicing his sword skills with Vergil at the back of their house. Only with this, Vergil was not holding back the slightest; his strikes were more lethal than ever. Dante remembered some of his twin's weaknesses. The only problem was he was always fast enough to see them, but never fast enough to physically respond.

The pushing force was suddenly lifted away, causing Dante to stumble forward. Once he regained balance, his blue eyes scanned around for any signs of Vergil. Dante readied Rebellion when he saw him coming from his left.

A ripping pain flooded into his head. He felt like someone was trying to crack his skull open. The last one was bad enough. This felt ten times worse than it. His sword fell out of his hand and landed with a clear sound. He found himself not able to focus at all in the pain. Out of nowhere, a slender arm wrapped around him tightly, holding him close to her.

After Vergil's appearance, Rei watched the fight between the two brothers from a distance. She tried to use her power despite knowing it will draw more demons. To her surprise, her power failed her for the first time. Perhaps all they were seeing was really an illusion, she thought. She was angry with herself for not being able to be more helpful. All she could do was stand near and watch. Her younger twin Mia would have come up with a way to help at times like these.

Rei saw Vergil closing in Dante, who dropped his sword, leaving himself vulnerable. If Mia's death was real, she couldn't stand losing another person important to her. As fast as her legs would carry her, she rushed to where he was and threw her arms around him. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the blade's fatal cut. To her amazement, Dante picked up his sword and blocked the coming katana at the last moment, just when she thought they were going to be cut into pieces.

"Stand back," Dante said to Rei, while pushing back Yamato single-handedly with his sword. Letting go of him, Rei swiftly walked away from the two. Though not as much as before, his head was still hurting terribly. It took a great deal of effort but at least he managed to focus. Rats, he cursed. He had lost sight of Vergil again without realising. Dante understood well Vergil was faster and stronger than him even when he was in top-notch condition. He had only a very small chance of defeating this image of his brother – and he had to be very lucky as well.

The piercing pain seemed to know how to cooperate with Vergil. It almost always came in a timing way too conveniently for him. Every time Dante's head hurts, Vergil appeared out of the mist, looking for opportunity of an opening. Dante escaped the first few strikes with minor injuries. He was positive who he was fighting was not his blood-bond brother. Vergil would never fight like this. He would never sneak up to an enemy and take him by surprise.

Feeling a presence behind him, Dante spun around, gripping hard on Rebellion's hilt. He felt a familiar ripping pain from his left arm. Vergil's image had sliced it deeply, almost down to the bone. Blood ran down his arm freely, dripping onto the ground below. His knees buckled involuntarily and had to use his sword for support. He heard Rei screaming his name. Turning to her, he noticed she had a hand over her mouth. Her beautiful face was as white as sheet. The cut hurt so much it was beyond his imagination. He thought he might faint before he could scream in agony. He didn't understand. Like in a dream, one should not feel pain in an illusion. Something wasn't right.

Ignoring the pain the best he could, Dante took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. In order to test if what they were seeing was real, some people pinch themselves. If it hurt, it was real. If not, it was a dream. An idea formed in his mind. There was something he hadn't tried. His hand dug into his jacket's pocket, pulling out a pocket knife that he always carried with him. With his thumb, he flung out the small blade.

Then, he jabbed it into the back of his other hand.

As though a gale blow away the mist, everything was gone – everything except Dante and Rei. There was no mist, no Vergil, no dead Mia. Moist air from the sea blew on their faces. Night insects were busy chirping their songs amongst the bushes that surrounded them. They were in the courtyard of the castle. Despite they were clearly still stuck within the castle, it brought them great relief to know everything they experienced in the past hour wasn't real. The voices were still bothering him, but they were less noisy.

Brushing off the tears on her face, Rei ran to Dante. She cried more tonight than she ever had in her lifetime. The blood on his arm was gone, disappeared without a trace and so was the cut. However the pocket knife went through in his left hand. The tip of the knife came out from his palm. She told him to sit down while she tended his wound.

Carefully, Rei took his injured hand and held it in front of her so she could get a good look. Considering how deep the knife went, it impressed her that he wasn't trembling. She understood the logic behind his act without having to ask. They felt pain because the illusion was so powerful it made them think it was real. On the contrary, true pain was not felt in an illusion, but it was the key they needed to break through it. "I'm going to pull it out now," she said to him, referring to the knife. Dante gave her a nod. As quickly as she could, she pulled out the knife. She saw him wince. Some blood followed the blade as it came out, but it was nothing serious. She ripped out a long piece of cloth from the hem of her white dress. Carefully and skilfully, she used it to bandage his hand.

When Rei finished, she sat down beside Dante. Now that she finally had the chance, she asked him what was wrong with his hearing. He told her he was unaware of the curse on him until it grew loud. From then on he began to suspect something.

Rei was worried at first. It concerned her more that he didn't tell her about it before. Nonetheless, she was glad to hear the noises weren't bothering him as much. "You're right. It was an illusion. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"I guess I can think about forgiving you," Dante rubbed his chin in consideration, and then grinned. "If…"

"If?" Rei smiled, leaning closer to him. Gentle sea breeze blew up strands of her long hair, playing with it mischievously. The white dress that was put on her fitted her body figure liked a glove on hand. She looked breath taking in the night.

Dante wanted to ask her for a kiss. He knew it wasn't the time to ask something like that. It's not that he wasn't prepared to be turn down, he didn't want to make it difficult for her to reject. Changing his mind, he said. "I want you to cook a meal for me." He thought she looked slightly disappointed when she heard.

"Deal," Rei said, giving him a broad smile.

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Author's note: This chapter turned out to be quite long when I finished writing. I tempted to split it, but I think it's better to have it the way it is. My friend told me the minimum word for a novella is 20000 words. I guess that makes this fic sort of a novella. Hope you liked it. Reviews would be very much appreciated. 


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